


Kamen Rider Bloodstone: AGES of Darkness

by starofjustice



Category: Castlevania, Darkstalkers (Video Games), Kamen Rider, Monster High, Rosario + Vampire, Undertale (Video Game), モンスター娘のいる日常 | Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 99,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8461762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starofjustice/pseuds/starofjustice
Summary: Promised he can remain at Youkai Academy if he'll act as an agent to help investigate and head off growing chaos in the monster world, vampire Nigeki Hitoribo begins to see just how big the world is outside his family estate, and how hard he'll have to fight for the sake of his new world and his newfound friends.





	1. Chapter 1

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Book 2: AGES of Darkness**

**Chapter 12 – Faces in the Crowd**

 

            The sky seemed to go dark above Moka, Kurumu and Yukari’s heads. They covered their ears as an ear-splitting shriek washed over them, rattling the windows in the classroom building nearby and sending crows flying up away from the stunted trees around the edge of campus.

            “WHERE ISSSSSS HEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!!!”

            Towering over the girls was a thick-limbed troll, his grotesque muscles lined with throbbing veins and knife-like teeth sticking up from his rock-hard lower jaw. “You were there with him!” he roared at the girls, raising his enormous fists and bringing them down on the ground leaving craters two feet deep. “You helped him fight! You’re his friends! You know where he is!!”

            Kurumu spread her dark wings and took off, fingernails flashing out into hot pink foot-long claws. “Even if he was around, why do you think he’d have nothing better to do than get in a fight with a big sweaty loser like you?!” she called tauntingly.

            The troll roared and wrenched a tree, roots and all, out of the ground and chucked it at her, but Kurumu darted out of the way and it went sailing past her, crashing into something noisily out of sight.

            “Because I challenged him!” the troll screamed up at her. “If he fought the leader of the Student Police, why is he too scared to fight someone like Chopper Rikiishi?!”

            Moka glared up at the troll. “Maybe he doesn’t care about something so stupid!”

            For a second Chopper Rikiishi stopped his bellowing and looked down at Moka. “…stupid?”

            She started in surprise, not sure how to follow up on what she just said. She stammered out, “W-w-well yeah…why does he have to fight you to prove something? Aren’t we supposed to be learning not to do stuff like that?”

            Rikiishi’s face twisted with anger and Moka felt an urge to turn and run before he had a chance to lash out at her. He roared suddenly and threw his huge arms into the air, almost blowing Moka off her feet with the force of his voice. “BECAUSE I HAVE TO BE STRONG!!!” Rikiishi thundered. “BECAUSE WE **ALL** HAVE TO BE! WE HAVE TO BE **READY!!!** ” He swept his massive arms, digging trenches out of the ground with his fists, and Moka squeaked and ran for all she was worth out of his way just before she would’ve been hit by one. But then he got to his massive feet and chased after Moka, swiping at her and trying to grab her.

            “WE HAVE TO BE READY WHEN THE HUMANS ATTACK US!!” Chopper screamed.

            All of a sudden Yukari appeared in midair in front of him, brandishing her toy-like wand. A cloud of cards blasted from the tip into his face, knocking Chopper off-balance for a second and a brass wash tub bounced off his head, dazing him. Then a second clanged as it slammed into his head, and he staggered back drunkenly. A third tub slammed right into his forehead over his eyes, and Rikiishi reeled. Kurumu swooped in and raked her claws across his chest. He finally fell and sank ten inches into the ground as he landed.

            “Not bad,” Yukari smiled up at Kurumu, who grinned and made the peace sign with her gigantically long fingernails. “For a girl with more boobs than brains, anyway,” the witch added with a smirk.

            “Why you little—” Kurumu yelled and swooped at Yukari, long fingernails reaching out for the witch’s head.

            “Eeep!” Yukari squealed and hid behind Moka, but before Kurumu could have her revenge Rikiishi suddenly rolled over and swatted her away with his massive hand without even seeming to realize it. Glaring at them though squinting eyes thanks to where Yukari’s last tub had hit him, he grabbed Moka by the legs and hoisted her into the air.

            “WHERE’S THAT BOYFRIEND OF YOURS?!” he howled at the top of his lungs.

            “Boyfriend??” was the only reply Moka managed.

            Kurumu clenched her fist in anger at hearing that question directed at Moka, not realizing that meant raking her own extended fingernails over her own chest and shoulder until it was too late. “OWW!!”

            Rikiishi snarled at Moka and then bellowed, “YES!! WHERE IS HE?! WHY DIDN’T HE ANSWER MY CHALLENGE?! IS HE AFRAID???”

            “What makes you think Nigeki has nothing better to do than get into a pointless fight with a _bully_?” Moka heard herself retort.

            “A BULLY?? IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SEE IN ME?!” Chopper screamed, almost deafening her.

            Yukari aimed her wand. Kurumu went into another dive at Rikiishi’s head.

            But then a thundering sound filled the area, and it took a second to realize it wasn’t Chopper screaming his frustration at them again. It was the sound of Moka smacking him on the cheek hard enough to jerk his giant head into his shoulder.

            “Yes,” Moka said with an angry frown. “If you’re this obsessed with getting to fight someone, that’s exactly what I see.”

            Yukari and Kurumu stopped in their tracks and exchanged an uneasy glance. When had _this_ Moka ever had the nerve to say something like that, let alone hit somebody? Let somebody as big as Chopper Rikiishi, who was holding her off the ground with just one hand?

            But Chopper himself didn’t answer her. Instead he suddenly dropped Moka and reeled backward, holding out a hand to catch himself against one of the many dead trees ringing the school. He shook his head to clear it of the cobwebs of the hit he’d just taken, then fixed Moka was a look of blinding hatred. He was getting to his full height to attack again…

            “Is there a problem here?” asked a tall, lanky woman with a thick red ponytail and an eyepatch over her left eye. They hadn’t noticed her coming with all the noise Chopper had been making, but how the hell could she be so calm about it?

            The giant troll growled down at her. “Unless _you_ know where Nigeki Hitoribo is—”

            “Never heard of him,” she interrupted.

            “…then you’d better butt out before you get hurt.”

            The next thing any of them knew the woman had grabbed Rikiishi around the waist, which looked absolutely impossible with her thin frame, and suplexed him, his head and two feet of his shoulders disappearing into the ground with a horrible crash. She rolled out from under Chopper, whose hand twitched for a second but then fell and stayed silent. She easily dragged him back out of the ground by his feet, and after she made sure Chopper was still breathing, she gave the girls a last indecipherable look before she walked away.

            “Who the hell was that?” Kurumu asked as soon as the woman was far enough away not to hear.

            “I can stop her, then we can interrogate her,” Yukari suggested and started to brandish her wand to bring a wash tub down on her head, but Moka stopped the young witch with a shake of her head.

            “No. She’s really strong, and we shouldn’t be getting into fights anyway, remember?” Moka said, surprising the other two after just finding the courage to hit someone like Chopper Rikiishi in the face. “Besides, I’m sure we’ll find out who she is soon enough.”

 

XXX

 

As the two of them rode the empty bus down a forest road, the setting sun’s dark orange light flickering through the treetops, Nigeki got an urge to get up and stretch, but Mizore had fallen asleep leaning on him. And even though it was a weird sensation and he was trying to stand firm on not worrying about dating yet, he realized he didn’t want to move away even more.

            Instead he killed time flicking through social updates on his phone. Most of them were from cousin Laura, who seemed to be having a similar experience to his in that she was at school with other monsters her age for the first time. Unlike Nigeki, she hadn’t been constantly getting into fights, at least.

            Almost all of it was things she did with her friends, her boyfriend (the brown-furred basketball player who’d been holding her in his arms in the last picture she’d sent to Nigeki), and her cheerleading exploits.

            One that caught his eye was of two girls waving to the camera, grinning. One was tall and green with a head like an alligator’s, but she also a head of blonde hair twisted into pigtails, and pink lipstick on. The other one was short and chubby with purple fur, black hair  with a blue streak and a cat-like face. The tag Laura had written underneath it was “they keep telling everyone their names really ARE Bratty and Catty”. Nigeki’s knowledge of American slang wasn’t that great, but he was pretty sure he understood. Weren’t those insults?

            He scrolled down to another one she’d reposted from someone else. The picture showed Laura and one of her friends, a girl with green skin, zebra-striped hair and eyes with mismatched colors each hugging a strange cat-like creature with white fur but also thick black hair atop their heads, and wearing striped t-shirts. The one in Laura’s arms appeared to be winking at the camera.

            Behind them another girl with streaks of gold in her long black hair and wearing an outfit that looked like yellowed gauze bandages was running for her life from a tidal wave of those same cat-creatures.

            Was striping their hair something American monster girls were really into?

            The tag under the picture read “hOI! temmie am finist cooleg, nou mov unta HAH-skoo an cumpLEE AHchoo-kayshun! AL di grls lub TEM!”

            In her repost underneath Laura added: “except cleo X3”.

            Cousin Laura had sent him another update, though, a personal one: a picture of the back wall of her school apparently, where someone had written the message “BEWARE OF THE MAN WHO SPEAKS IN HANDS,” in perfectly even grey type, made in something that looked more like metal than paint.

According to the message she’d sent along with it someone had taken that before school officials suddenly painted the rest of the wall grey to cover it up. The letters could still just barely be made out through the paint, but two friends of hers had gotten detention and conferences with their parents for being caught just looking too closely at the wall.

            What could a weird message like that mean, Nigeki wondered, especially if the people who ran the school were so desperate to keep anyone from finding out?

             He was distracted from his deep thinking as Mizore leaned on him harder all of a sudden and curled her arm around his, smiling gently in her sleep. For a second he thought her eye flick open at him to see how he reacted, but he decided to take things one step at a time. He was doing a service to his people by finding this witch, and while he was doing it he had the chance to find his younger sisters who’d been missing for months.

            That was enough for now.

 

XXX

 

            An hour later the bus finally stopped next to a small seaside town. Mizore had seemed annoyed when Nigeki had woken her up and insisted it was time to get off, even with as stoic as she usually was. As they got off and walked into town she grabbed his hand, laced their fingers together and refused to let go. The cool of her touch felt surprisingly welcome, though, and he supposed that despite her being so forceful it was better than having to carry both of their luggage.

            Still…

            “Mizore, you don’t have to hold so tight. Are you afraid I’ll run away or something?”

            “Just making sure no-one gets the wrong idea about us,” she answered casually.

            “What wrong idea?” he asked, and Mizore looked at him quizzically. “Look, you’re pretty and everything—,” he said, and she blushed. “But I must’ve said ten times already I’m not dating. I have to find my sisters, and that’s plenty, don’t you think?”

            She answered by giving his hand a squeeze and smiling around the stick of her lollipop, then saying, “No.”

            He sighed and just kept walking, getting a giggle of amusement from Mizore. But the sun was getting low after their long bus trip and he didn’t see the good in dragging Mizore around in the dark trying to find the witch, let alone expecting the witch to be happy to see them when she _was_ found. He glanced around at places to stay the night, but also tried to think of how to keep Mizore from getting any ideas.

            Then it seemed to jump out at him: a small restaurant with the name ‘DAPHNE’ written above the front window in metallic gold paint. Sitting in the window were a pair of signs, ‘ROOM TO RENT’ and another saying ‘HELP WANTED’, and underneath had been hastily written, ‘URGENTLY!’.

            “Why don’t we go in there and see about some dinner?” Nigeki suggested. Mizore smiled and nodded, like she would’ve followed him anywhere. “Then maybe we can ask about a place to stay.” A back room place seemed ideal; Nigeki had felt wrong bringing a bunch of money on this trip for some reason. It was like the distance from home, finally being allowed to be out on his own made him want to handle things on his own now. It sounded so idiotic, but instead of hiding he wanted to face the world, and without relying on his family’s influence like he always had…

            They went inside, and almost immediately a willowy girl in an antiquated black and white lace maid’s dress stepped in front of them to greet them. “Welcome to Daphne!” she said graciously. “Would you care for a seat by the window?”

            “I’ve been sitting by a window most of the day. I’d rather have something by the corner, if that’s all right,” Nigeki answered.

            “Of course! Right this way, please,” the girl smiled and turned to lead them past a few occupied tables, nobody sparing the two of them much attention as they went past. Despite what he’d told Mizore about holding off on dating, Nigeki found himself unable to look away from the waitress. She had long silvery hair setting off her slender build, and behind a pair of cute glasses were a pair of deep, shimmering eyes that were a light pink in color. She smiled more deeply as she noticed him looking more intently, but right then Mizore clung to his entire arm tightly, silently glaring frosty daggers at the girl.

            As soon as she’d sat them down, someone called, “Excuse me! Can we get refills over here?”

            “And over here!” a teenage girl sitting by the door with her friends added. “And could we see a dessert menu?”

            The waitress sighed slightly and forced a smile before she turned around to hurry off and help the other customers. Nearly five minutes later when she finished rushing back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen and got back to Nigeki and Mizore, her feet shuffled and there were dark circles forming under her eyes Nigeki hadn’t noticed before. “Now…what can I get you?” she asked.

            “Actually, we saw the sign—,” Nigeki started to say.

            Her face erupted into a relieved smile and she immediately pointed at the kitchen door. “Talk to the owner. Just go right in. Please.”

            “Um, all right,” Nigeki said and got up to do as she said, with Mizore getting up and grabbing his arm, shooting the waitress another sharp glare as she went. Nigeki pushed open the door to the kitchen like he’d been told and inside working over a wide grill was a lanky dark-haired man.

            “Sorry, no diners in the kitchen! This is a controlled system!” he exclaimed.

            Nigeki shook his head. “The girl outside told us to talk to you. We saw the sign—”

            “Great!” the man said. “Look, thanks for the interest. Practically our whole wait staff quit a while ago, and we’re a little more shorthanded than I thought we’d be with my nephew away at culinary school.  
            “Oh? Why did they all quit?” Nigeki asked.

            “They were all in love with my nephew but he picked the girl out there. She’s my daughter, Takano” the chef answered, then whirled and faced the two young monsters with a smile. “Ryosuke Aoyama, owner and operator.”

            Nigeki held up a hand and shook his head. “Look, I think you’re misunderstanding. We’re only going to be here for a little while. We’re trying to find someone, and we’re looking for a place to stay while we’re here. That’s it.”

            Ryosuke’s face fell, but Mizore leaned over and whispered to Nigeki. “Why don’t we stay for a little while? They look they really do need the help. Besides, maybe he’ll let me keep the uniform after we’re done.”

            He looked at Mizore in surprise, and she grinned subtly back at him, and before he knew it he was imagining her in a long, lacy black dress like the girl out front had been wearing. She seemed to see it in his eyes and her cheeks turned pink even as he watched.

            Maybe it _wasn’t_ such a bad idea. They looked like they really did need the help. Besides, he tried to reason, wasn’t he away from home to try to broaden his horizons and keep the Tear under control by experiencing life? “Well, for a little while, I guess.”

            Ryosuke sighed in relief and Mizore slipped an arm around Nigeki’s shoulders and kissed his cheek. Had this been a good decision after all…?

 

xxx

 

            School had ended the next day, and with no other maniacs attacking her trying to find out where Nigeki had gone, Moka gently flicked another page in her book. She smiled and gave off a quiet sigh of pleasure as she enjoyed some quiet time to herself as the air started to warm. Summer would be coming before too long. She wondered what they’d be able to do over the break in classes. It would be her first time out on a trip with friends, and she was looking forward to the chance to go out and do things with Yukari and Nigeki, and she had to admit, even Kurumu. Kind of.

Nigeki. Moka had tried to find out what had happened to him when he missed class that day; she supposed she’d gotten a little protective of him after he’d run out on her and then avoided her for days after she found out about his Kamen Rider-like alter ego. Toriel hadn’t known anything, neither did Nigeki’s friends at the Drama Club, but Felicia had told her off-the-record that he was running an important errand for the school.

What could it be? Nothing too dangerous, she hoped. Moka almost expected to hear the voice of her deeper self in her mind telling her that a weakling like Nigeki couldn’t handle it, whatever it was, but none came.

            Then again her inner self, her brutal self, had been quiet lately. Ever since the fight with the old Security Committee, actually…what could’ve made her decide to go silent?

            But while Moka was thinking, someone was thinking about her. In the trees at the edge of the girl’s dorm, for just a second a shaft of sunlight caught on the long-distance lens of a cameraman crouching in the darkness.

            It was Ginei Morioka, her senior at the Newspaper Club and more than occasional peeper, smirking at the gentle smile on Moka’s beautiful face. She was easily one of the loveliest girls on campus, and if anyone had an eye for the girls, it was him. But as he snapped a picture of a soft smile of pleasure on her face, he sighed inwardly. He **was** a serial peeper, but even he’d felt a desire to connect more emotionally with a beautiful woman. Like San…oh, San…Was this all there could be between him and an exquisite beauty like Moka Akashiya? Him staring at her through the lens of a camera?

            Didn’t it always work out in the shows that the guy with the terrible secret that pushed him apart from the world, and the beautiful girl who was his only friend always found love in each other’s arms? Had Ginei already lost a chance, however slim, at connecting with this girl?

            Then suddenly he saw someone looking straight at him from behind Moka. A figure in black with a bone-white face, glowing eyes of different colors…

            Ginei gasped loudly in alarm, and before Moka had even looked all the way up from her book he’d dropped his camera and was bolting through the trees. Not to escape Moka, who he didn’t fear even if she did find out someone had been spying on her. But to get away from _him…_

He’d, or _it_ , had only been there for a split-second, but Ginei could still remember the long black coat he wore over a white turtleneck sweater, making him look rather dignified. But it was all undone by his _face_.

Oh god, his face. It had looked more like a mask, a smooth white mask whose most prominent feature was the bizarre grin, haunting and mocking, gaping in his face as if it could’ve sucked Ginei’s soul right out of his body. Eyes that seemed to glow two different colors in the sockets, but it had been so sudden Ginei couldn’t even remember what the colors were. In one hand he’d held a thin black cane…

            His hands. In spite of everything else about him, Ginei most remembered his hands. The black holes in them, with small flecks of light flying down into them. Like some kind of black hole in deep space sucking in stars that passed too close.

            And Ginei could swear he had sworn something else was looking back. Looking back at him, **talking to him** , from inside of that man’s hands.

           

xxx

 

            Another day of school passed, and Moka spent her free time wondering gently where Nigeki had gone and if he was all right. As soon as classes were over, though, she was surprised when everyone was called to a sudden assembly in the campus theater.

            As she found a seat in the second row, she spotted a few teachers taking seats as well in the back, including Toriel, who gave her a smile and a friendly wave, and Moka felt her cheeks going pink and had to look away. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the new groundskeeper take a seat next to Toriel with a hopeful smile on his face, but she frowned, got up and took a seat in the row behind him.

            “Hey, Moka!” Yukari said with a grin as she took the empty seat at Moka’s side. Kurumu took a seat a few chairs away from them and gave Moka a silent glance of acknowledgement.

“What do you think this is about?” the witch asked.

            “Let’s hope it’s not about that fight from before,” Moka whispered, and Yukari nodded. The trickle of students in slowed, and after another minute Moka froze as she saw the woman in the eyepatch come in. Toriel knitted her brow as their eyes met for a second, and a look of surprise came over her face as she seemingly recognized the woman. The groundskeeper smiled and waved to the one-eyed woman, who jumped in surprise as she spotted him, but then grinned a saw-toothed grin and waved back, actually blushing a little at the groundskeeper.

            The Headmaster, looking eerie as ever in his white robes and with a ghostly smile seeming to float in the darkness of his hood, came onto the stage and tapped the microphone a few times to get everyone’s attention. “Thank you all for coming. As I’m sure you all know, the School Security Committee was disbanded recently after proof of misconduct had been brought to light. But we want you all to know our highest priority is keeping all of you safe, and we’ve appointed a new head of campus security some of our…newer faculty members recommend very highly.” He gestured offstage and the woman with the eyepatch walked up to the microphone.

            “Hi everybody,” she spoke pleasantly. “Like the boss said, I’m the new head of security here at Youkai Academy. My name’s Undyne…OR **GOD** AS FAR AS YOU’RE CONCERNED!!!”

            The entire room shook as everyone jumped out of their seats in surprise and landed at the same time.

            “I am not here to be your friend!” Undyne went on completely undaunted. “I am not here to tell you things are fine when they aren’t! I am here to keep this school safe, and all of you better make sure you remember that, or pay the price!!”

            The groundskeeper smiled in gentle approval. Toriel nodded and chewed her lip uncertainly. But Alphys was actually bouncing in her seat and shaking with glee.

            “I’ll be filling out the new Security Committee after I’ve had a chance to get settled,” Undyne went on, more calmly now. “But that _doesn’t_ mean troublemakers get the run of the place until then. Don’t think I miss anything because I don’t have as many eyes as you.”

            The auditorium went totally silent as Undyne stopped talking for a second. A few students exchanged uneasy glances, most of the rest seemed too scared of the new head of security to risk making anything that seemed like a sudden move. “I’m going to be reforming the Security Committee soon,” Undyne went on. “More _selectively_ than the last one, but I’ve already gotten some very compelling recommendations. Watch for us, because we’ll be watching for you. I don’t care how tough you think you are, nobody’s above the rules with this many kids around trying to learn how to blend in safely. _Nobody_.”

            After that stiff warning Undyne went on to announce some changes to the rules: curfew was being shortened by half an hour, penalties for skipping class were being heightened, and anyone caught going to the nurse’s office for makeout purpose with another student would wish they hadn’t. Most of the students left looking nervously over the shoulders, Moka, Kurumu and Yukari among them.

 

XXX

 

            As the students cleared out Undyne was a little surprised to see a short, chubby woman with glasses and swooped-back blonde hair slink out of the shadows on one side of the stage. She _wasn’t_ surprised to see the woman’s cheeks covered with a flaming red blush.

            “Hi, Undie,” Alphys said, not quite able to meet her eye.

            “Don’t call me that in public,” Undyne whispered in irritation. “I’m supposed to be an imposing authority figure, ya know??” Once everyone else was gone, though, she grinned and bent over to kiss Alphys on the mouth and run her long fingers through the squat woman’s hair. Alphys squeaked in surprise and her blush got even brighter. “Hi, Alphy! You’re looking even cuter than before…” Undyne murmured.

            Alphys gently pushed her away. “You could’ve come when I got hired in the first place.”

            “Pffft,” Undyne replied, dismissively waving her hand. “Alphy, you know how I feel, but we had a whole brand new world to see. Some of us actually want to see it in person, not just on the internet. Teaching isn’t my thing, anyway. Busting troublemakers, that I’m _really_ good at.”

            “I’m kind of surprised Papyrus didn’t come with you,” Alphys remarked.

            Undyne sighed, resting a hand on the back of her head at the remark. “He’s really not cut out for this, and you guys already have a gardener, looks like.”

            Alphys nodded and looked over at the groundskeeper as he lumbered out of the room, his eyes on Toriel, who scowled over her shoulder at him. “Yeah, and I don’t think he’s planning on leaving by himself, if you know what I mean…”

            “Besides, Papyrus and that creepy brother of his are doing something ‘REALLY BIG’ right now. Although knowing him that means they’re making a sidewalk mural or something and calling it a ‘puzzle’.”

            She turned toward Alphys and grinned then playfully mussed her hair. Alphys laughed awkwardly and replied, “Yeah, that sounds _really_ big, doesn’t it?” She looked away, not willing to look Undyne in the face for just a second, knowing what she knew now about Papyrus’s brother.

            Suddenly Undyne seized her under the arms and lifted her up to Undyne’s own eye level, grinning that saw-toothed grin. Alphys squawked and struggled in surprise, but Undyne only seemed even more amused. “You’re so cute when you’re a flop-sweating nerd,” she grinned, single eye twinkling.

            Then without warning Undyne pursed her lips and pressed them full against Alphys’s.

After a second Undyne broke the kiss with an audible *POP* and sighed happily. “I missed you too, Alphy. There were people who had as much as passion as you, but none of them were as cu…oh, you can’t hear me anymore. You fainted again.”

Indeed, Alphys dangled limply between Undyne’s powerful arms, eyes rolled back into her head and glasses hanging off one ear.

“Guess I need to take you back to your nerdhouse until you wake up,” Undyne mused. “Hope it’s not as hot as your old nerdhouse. God, I _haaaaaaaaaated_ your old nerdhouse.”

 

XXX

 

“…anyone ever tell you you’re the cutest girl in town?” the boy said with a grin.

“I’m a yuki-onna. We use our beauty to lure in prey,” Mizore replied conversationally as she picked up his dishes.

He laughed. “You sure lured me…when do you get off?”

Suddenly a dark shape with angry glistening eyes loomed up from behind him, then reached out and grabbed him by the ear. “This is the last time I let you take me **here** ,” his girlfriend growled as she dragged him out the door. “Cute waitresses but I’m cuter than any of them!!” Everything seemed to shake as she slammed the door behind her.

But as soon as it was closed Takano stepped forward and quietly turned the lock. She smiled at Mizore, who now wore a uniform like her own. “Come on, the dishes can wait for right now. Let’s go upstairs and I can show you our room.”

“Wait…‘our’ room?” Mizore asked. She of course had assumed she’d be sharing the spare room they’d advertised with Nigeki. It was why she’d been in a mood to celebrate when he agreed to stay for a while.

Takano grinned. “Of course! It’s been so empty here since Koji and the other girls left…he’ll be back eventually but it’ll be nice to have a friend for a while.”

“But…but…!” Mizore sputtered and tried to pull away helplessly as the obliviously smiling Takano hauled her away. “Wait, who’s Koji?”

“Oh, he’s my fiancé,” Takano answered with a smile and a blush. “He’s off taking cooking lessons from a friend of my dad’s…he could’ve picked any of the girls who used to work here, but he picked me.”

Mizore regarded her silently for a minute as she realized she’d wrongly identified this girl as competition. “What happened to the other girls?”

Takano’s smiled faded a little at the memory. “They moved on. I’m very happy with Koji, and they seem to be doing well when we see them now and then. But I do feel a little sad about it sometimes…”

The ice claws Mizore had been planning to form melted away from the back of her wrists. This girl was no threat to her plans for her future, but she painted a very vivid picture. Before Takano could finishing dragging her away she glanced out at the window as Nigeki looked over a list of things the owner wanted him to pick from the restaurant supply store. What if that future didn’t happen, could she stand being turned down? But…what if it _did_? Could she deal with seeing the disappointment of everyone else who’d been interested in the guy when they realized they’d lost?

What was being around other people her age doing to her?

 

XXX

           

            The haze of colors she last remembered after Undyne had picked her up faded and changed into the familiar white of the plaster ceiling of her room on campus. Her vision was a blur, but Alphys rolled onto her side and flailed around at her nightstand for  her glasses, felt their familiar shape and put them on.

            Then she froze. Who had brought her back to her room?  
            “Hey, sunshine!” called a voice, and she whipped in its direction to see Undyne standing there wearing a tiny red apron with the face of a beloved anime character on it.

            And only wearing a tiny red apron with the face of a beloved anime character on it.

            Alphys stumbled out of bed and over to where the grinning Undyne stood. “Where did you find that?” Alphys demanded. “It’s part of my collection!” She stopped as she realized something; she wasn’t in the clothes she wore to work, but one of her Mew Mew Kissy Cutie t-shirts and hot pink pajama pants with sock monkeys all over them. “Wait, did you bring me home? And—”

            “…and change you into your pajamas?” Undyne finished for her, grin widening. “You’re **really** into Mew Mew, huh? She was all over your underwear.”

            Mortified, Alphys’s entire body turned red and she covered her eyes with her wide hands. “Oh em eff gee…”

            Then Undyne came over and placed her hands on Alphys’s soft shoulders. “Alphy, what’s wrong?” she asked, her voice no longer amused but concerned. “I’m just trying to make tonight special since we’re back together. Plus you looked so uncomfortable with how you kept tossing and turning in the clothes you had on. Are you really that upset I saw your underpants?”

            Still covering her eyes, Alphys nodded silently.

            “Really?” Undyne asked.

            A second passed and, still covering her eyes, Alphys shook her head.

            Undyne smirked. “Just wait til you find out I’m your new roommate!”

            That made Alphys look up at her in shock. “What?!”

            Undyne shrugged and kept smiling. “The year’s already started and every place was full. Well…there was where the old gym teacher was staying, but hell if I’m moving in there after what he was doing!

            “So, Alphy,” she went on, hooking her hands under the smaller woman’s arms again and hauling her off the ground, “Are you really embarrassed at seeing me again?”

            Alphys looked Undyne in the eye and shook her head, buck teeth poking out adorably. Undyne leaned in, lips puckered, and Alphys leaned forward as well, meeting Undyne in a lingering kiss as she dangled awkwardly from her lover’s arms…

 

Xxx

 

The orange rays of sunset poured over a field of massive sunflowers swaying in the wind.

            The place was known as Witch’s Knoll, as according to local legend an old witch secretly lived at the spot and took care of the flowers. Once in a while a kid snuck up to the field to spend the night on a dare. All of them came back intact, and a lot claimed to have seen the witch. Most of their friends and parents laughed it off, the first thinking it just a cheap trick and the second simply glad to see their children safe and sound.

It was just a silly story to the people of the town, something to joke with people passing through.

After all, a witch didn’t live there.

 _Two_ witches lived there.

            A crow as black as the night glided over the field of sun flowers on the edge of town, stretching out of sight like an endless ocean of yellow. As the bird neared the edge it passed over an ugly black sign with yellow lettering on the front reading ‘FUTURE SITE OF NISHIMURA WASTE PROCESSING CENTER.’ That one of the last locations of natural beauty in the area was to be cleared for such a thing…it was a crime against the world.

            But a plan was set to deal with that. The crow flew on, over the rooftops of the town, looking down at the people as they drove their filthy vehicles to wherever their crass business took them. They thought they were the masters of the world. But they were wrong.

As the crow flew over one small truck, the back loaded up with boxes and bags of vegetables and bottles of cooking ingredients, suddenly a churning sickness flowed into the crow’s senses and it struggled to stay in the air. There was something **wrong** with the driver of that truck…something darker and more malevolent than even a human mind.

The crow flew lower and as the truck signaled a turn, swooped around the corner and suddenly morphed into a young, dark-woman in a pink and black dress. She pretended to collapse in the middle of the empty street, clutching her head. The truck stopped a few feet away and the alarmed driver got out and crouched next to her. It was Nigeki Hitoribo.

“Are you okay, lady??” he asked and tried to help her up, but she pulled away.

“No, not yet, I’m still kind of dizzy,” she answered. “I’m a little surprised you stopped at all…”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why wouldn’t I stop when someone was in the middle of the street?” Nigeki asked.

She smirked faintly. “…but then it really shouldn’t surprise me, _vampire_.”

He jumped back. “What are you talking about?”

In the blink of an eye she was on her feet, skirts billowing from suddenly jumping up, and a triumphant smile on her lovely face. In one hand she was suddenly brandishing a hook-shaped wooden wand with a small pink orb floating in the curve of the tip. “Wait,” he spoke up. “Are you Oyakata?”

“No, I’m not, but you’re obviously the one we were waiting for,” she answered. “Thought I don’t know why the head of that school of yours sent you to us, not with what’s lurking inside you.”

Nigeki bristled at her accusation. “I’m doing better at keeping it under control than I have in my whole life, **thank you**.”

She smiled, but there was a subtle malice to it. “It’s not an insult. That kind of force could be exactly what my mistress and I are looking for,” she said quietly. “It would be a fine way to pay us back for the knowledge you want from us. Those two young vampires you’re looking for, wasn’t it?”

He fought down his temper before it could get the best of him. “Where are they?” Nigeki asked slowly.

“I don’t know,” the witch answered. “But the mistress does. If you’ll help us, she’ll probably be all too happy to tell you.”

“All right, fine. I have to drop this stuff off, but after that we’ll go see your mistress,” Nigeki replied. “Hop in.”

The witch looked at him aghast. “I am **not** getting into that filthy machine, even if we **are** expecting you.” She whirled and shrank into a black crow that took to the air and circled the street as Nigeki shrugged and started the truck up. When he started back toward Daphne he saw her flying after him in the rearview mirror.

 

XXX

 

            A young man and his date walked out of the path leading around Witch’s Knoll, both smiling from ear to ear at the walk through the flowers that had marked the ended of their day together. His fumbling hand stretched out and he laced his fingers together with hers. A look of surprise covered the girl’s face for a second, but then she smiled up at him.

            “Thanks for today, Taro,” she giggled.

            “Um, you’re welcome, Miko,” he replied. “Say, um, maybe this is kind of sudden, but do you think you’d be okay with coming to my house tomorrow night to meet my fam—”

            She gasped suddenly in surprise, and he’d been so focused on the question he’d been working up the courage to ask all week that he hadn’t seen what was right there in front of them.

Coming up the trail was a blonde girl wearing a bright red dress and lacy white apron, the dress matching her hooded cape. In her hands she carried a wicker basket, the contents of which were hidden by a white napkin.  Behind her were a group of four hulking men in dark suits and sunglasses, a weird rubbery shine to their skin as they followed behind the girl in perfect synch.

“Oh don’t mind us!” the girl grinned, and her canines seemed unnaturally sharp to Taro’s eyes. “You guys make such a cute couple, we don’t wanna ruin the moment!” She then walked past the young couple, skipping and swinging her basket melodramatically. The men behind her walked past too, not even sparing a glance at the two youths, who wasted no time in hurrying away, the boy’s question forgotten.

            The girl in the hood led her entourage up the trail through the sun flowers, toward the highest hill on Witch’s Knoll. She reached into her basket and pulled out a pair of binoculars with strange heavy lenses and studied the top of the hill for a second, then put the binoculars away, grinning at the confirmation of her objective.

            “All right boys, drop the masks!” she sang.

            Immediately the men behind her seemed to explode, their suits flying to pieces and their faces flipping down into their torsos to reveal flat metal faces with glowing yellow eyes.

            They didn’t even seem surprised when the nearest flowers suddenly expanded into green monsters with masses of teeth and angry red eyes before lurching to attack.

 

XXX

 

**A new chapter, finally up. Maybe more content in that I really should’ve included, but I really wanted to give more of the characters time to shine on their own while getting some new ones among them settled in, like another Darkstalkers character and not a very nice one and we’ll see. As I kind of implied in the way some of the characters acted, this is when the real clash between human and monsters starts picking up. Hope you’ll look forward to it.**

 

**Happy Halloween!**


	2. Conflicting Interests

            Nigeki hauled the bags of rice into Daphne’s kitchen six at a time, three on each shoulder. His boss just stared at the sight of a scrawny teenager moving so much without a flinch, but Nigeki set them down heavily as he hurried to unload everything so he could see what these witches had to tell him.

            As he hefted two crates of vegetables, he resolved keep his guard up as he went to this meeting. Witches resided neither in the world of humans or the world of monsters, and even if they knew something about what he was after, Nigeki couldn’t be sure he was exactly welcome among them. It was an unfortunate reality, but at that moment the only thing on his mind was finding out what happened to his little sisters.

            The witch seemed to melt from the shadows as he stepped out the back door again, a coy smile on her face. Nigeki couldn’t shrug off the feeling she was amused at having a vampire dependent on her for something. But he did need it, and as civilly as he could, prompted her, “I’m done. I think we can go visit your… _mistress_ now?”

            She nodded, but the smirk didn’t budge. “Yes, let’s go see if she’s interested in helping you…” she started to say, turning to face the flower-covered hill in the distance, but stopped as a blue flash lit up the sky for a second, and the witch’s mouth opened wide in surprise and horror.

            “What’s going on?” Nigeki asked, already knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.

            “Something’s wrong…I have to go!” the witch answered, sprouting wings again and taking to the air, but suddenly something stopped her, and she looked down to see a scowling Nigeki holding onto her ankle.

            “Oh no you don’t,” he said warningly. “I’m going too.”

            She just nodded and shook her ankle, and this time he let go, then ran after at inhuman speed.

 

XXX

 

            The girl in the red hood cackled in manic glee as the SMG she held in both hands spewed heavy rounds into the field of plant creatures closing in around her and littering the ground with red-hot shells.

            One plant monster fell, sliced in half by the girl’s gunfire. Then the one next to it collapsed, and two more, then six, until her weapon clicked empty. She grinned a demonic grin that might’ve stopped the plant creatures in their tracks if they’d had enough minds of their own to fear for their safety.

            “Let me show you the other goodies I brought for Grandma!” she shrieked with glee and pulled another clip from her basket then slapped it into her gun. One of the plant creatures had almost reached her from behind, and as it threw its massive hands high to smash her she casually reached over her shoulder and pulled the trigger. As her bullets impacted on its skin they erupted into flames, consuming it in seconds.

            She fired as she ran through the opening she’d just made in the green wall closing in on her. The gun jerked around wildly as she held it in just one hand but it seemed like the entire field of sunflowers had come to life to attack her, and her incendiary rounds hit something everywhere she aimed.

            The group of hulking robot soldiers she’d brought with her stood shoulder-to-shoulder as they as waded through the plant creatures hacking away at them, trying to keep the robots from getting closer to the top of the hill. Every few seconds a group of the slavering plants piled up on one of the robots, who would respond by opening a door in its chest, revealing a sizzling hot cannon barrel. A blue beam ripped from the end and tore the cluster of monster plants to shreds. Then the robots kept pushing their advance to the hill.

            The girl grinned as another row of the hill’s defenders burnt away to ash from another salvo, but instead of reloading her SMG she set down her basket and, impossibly, pulled a full-sized rocket launcher out from it. She aimed the nozzle high then squealed with sadistic pleasure as she squeezed the trigger.

            The weapon roared and spewed a missile that arced high into the air and then came down with a horrendous explosion that ripped across seventy feet of ground in every direction, incinerating thirty-two plant creatures in one shot.

            She tossed the spent weapon aside and picked up her basket, then skipped through the carnage to catch up with her mechanical accomplices.

 

XXX

 

            Mentally Nigeki pummeled himself as he ran, careful to keep the witch’s flying form in sight as another blue flash ripped across the sky. When she’d come and told him she and her mistress knew where to find his little sisters, he should’ve dropped everything and gone with her to find out. Instead he’d dropped off the load of food supplies he’d been sent to ferry back to the restaurant. And thanks to that something, something clearly powerful and hostile, was attacking the only person who could tell him what he needed to know.

            Things had immediately gone wrong the first day he’d been at school. Somehow it only made sense things would go wrong as soon as he was out doing something actually important…

            “What’s going on?!” he called up to the witch. “Can you see what’s happening up there?”

            “Of course not!” she called back derisively. “Do I look like an eagle to you? I can only see what you’re seeing at this distance! But we should—”

            As she said that another blue flash erupted and slammed into something unseen at the top of the hill. The power rippled around a hazy outline like a large house, and for a second it came into focus. A manor house with a pair of tall cone-shaped spires on either side, lit eerily by the moonlight and looking indeed like the home of some menacing supernatural being. And were those vines creeping **out** of some of the windows?”

A red glow surrounded it and it faded from sight again but only a second later another blue blast slammed into the same spot and it shimmered into sight again.

            The witch gasped. “Mistress…! She’ll be overwhelmed keeping the house out of sight like that!” She beat her black-feathered wings harder and pulled away from Nigeki, who sighed in frustration. She knew he was coming along to help her, didn’t she?

            Nigeki crouched and jumped into the air with all his inhuman strength, the strength he’d spent his entire life being told not to use. He went sailing over the roofs of an entire block of house, landed with a crash, then jumped as high and far as he could again.

            As he came down he saw another blast cut through the air and blow through the top of the house on the hill, which this time didn’t fade from sight.

He had to hurry.

            “ **Henshin**.”

 

XXX

 

            Mizore sucked hard on the lollipop clenched in her mouth as the house on the hill came fully into view. A battle was taking place up there, and she knew that wherever Nigeki had gone after he’d left in such a hurry, he was on his way there.

            Slivers of ice started to form around her hands. She turned away from the window and was about to run out of the room when Takano slipped in and shivered, closing the window. “Looks like it’s going to be a nasty storm if all that lightning gets any closer,” she said, but turned and gave Mizore a hopeful smile. “We’ll be all right in here, though.”

            “Yeah, a storm,” Mizore repeated flatly. Did Takano really expect her to believe those flashes of light over by the hill were supposed to be lightning? Any idiot who looked out there for more than a few seconds could tell otherwise, and that a huge house appeared out of nowhere after a few of them.

            Takano took her hand, and before Mizore could pull it away she gasped in surprise. “Oh my! It’s gotten so cold there’s frost on your hand!...Or is it because of something else?” she asked. Her words were soft, patient and accepting, let Mizore decide if this was something she wanted to reveal to her or not.

            Mizore didn’t answer, and after a minute Takano asked gently, “Are you worried about your friend?”

            She felt like retorting that “friend” was too weak a word for it, but knew Takano was trying to be sympathetic. “Yes,” Mizore finally said. “He left in a hurry and I’m worried about why. We think his sisters were kidnapped and we came out here looking for them. I mean…I know he’s strong, but it still scares me to know he’s going out to deal with the kidnappers all by himself. I wish I could go help him.”

            “Is that what that ice is about?” Takano asked. Mizore whipped around to face her, unsure of what Takano might be planning to do after guessing Mizore wasn’t a human. But for just a second there was an overpowering scent of flowers in the room and Takano’s ears seemed to become long and pointed. “It’s all right,” Takano went on. “I think I can understand the truth, if you want to tell me.”

            Mizore was not a person who connected with others easily, or spoke freely when she opened her mouth. But now she was sure something dangerous was happening at the edge of this town, involving someone she finally felt something for. And Mizore found herself wanting to open up, just for a moment.

            Softly she answered, “Nigeki and I aren’t human. His sisters were taken away by someone, and we think it’s someone who wants to hurt them because of that. When he left with that girl a while ago…I think it was because she could tell him something about it, and now I think he’s in trouble.”

            Takano took her hand. “He didn’t tell you where he was going?” she asked.

            “No. I think he knew it’d be dangerous and wanted to keep me safe,” Mizore answered, then stood up. “But I know where he is, and I’m going too.”

 

XXX

 

            The hooded girl and her robotic escort continued their push up Witch’s Knoll, but as they did the plant-like defenders seemed to be getting desperate. The robots moved like a wall, shoulder-to-shoulder, cutting them down with laser cannons and buzzsaws that popped out of their hands.

            But a pack of the plant monsters suddenly piled onto the one on the far left, clawing and yanking at its arms. It fired at them at and blew them into a sheet of green slime, but what was left of one of them still had a hard grip on one of its arms and with a shriek of metal the robot’s arm went flying into the darkness with it, the saw still screaming.

            A ray of red light flashed out from a window on the top floor of the manor and washed over a pack of plant monsters shambling up to try to stop them. But as it did they seemed to melt and flow together. After a second they stood up again, this time as a single plant monster three times the size of any other. It reached down and grabbed the robot furthest to the right then raised the robot over its malformed head and smashed it against the ground with a crunch.

            The other robots turned and opened fire on the monster with their weapons, breaking ranks and climbing up its legs and hacking at its body with their saws too. The plant monster paid no attention and kept smashing the one in its hands against the ground over and over, sending its head and arms flying until the hooded girl reached into her basket and pulled out a grenade as big as her head. She lobbed it at the monster’s midsection and ducked as it went off, blowing the monster in half.

The monster’s top half crashed a few meters away from her, splattering a few more of its kind running up to join the fight with slime. Another ray of light flashed from the window and those monsters combined into a giant, and a second later another ray flashed into the distance, and another, and another. Giant shadows rose all over the edges of the hill and started closing in.

“Get up and keep moving!” the hooded girl yelled at her metal followers. The three remaining robots squeezed together as they had before and marching up to where the manor house stood, just waiting for them to break their way inside.

One of the giant plant creatures stomped closer and the hooded girl reached into her basket for another grenade. But as she tossed it at the nearest plant giant a dark figure jumped in the way and kicked it back. She gasped in surprise more than horror as it came arcing back her way but yanked a bazooka out of her basket and fired.

Her shot hit the grenade and peppered the plant giant with fiery shrapnel but it just kept stomping closer. The hooded girl’s attention was on the one who’d intercepted her grenade. Wearing a strange rippling dark red armor and a mask like a skull, with glowing yellow eye sockets.

“I’ll thank you to leave them alone, little girl,” he said in a dry, gravelly voice.

She just threw back her head and laughed. “Oh my god, the outfit actually worked on somebody!” The robots turned their attention to the plant giant but the girl dropped her basket and pulled out a pair of sawed-off shotguns, grinning like a maniac.

“You think I’m just a little girl, huh?!” she cackled. “Some people call me Bulleta!” She squeezed the trigger of one of her guns and Bloodstone was peppered by buckshot and he gasped as he realized he could feel it sizzling against his armor.

“Some call me BB Hood!” she yelled and squeezed the other trigger. This time Bloodstone vaulted over her head before it could hit him. As he hit the ground the hooded girl had already turned and was grinning at him like all she could see was a target.

“But you can call me the Reaper!” she shrieked, grinning like a demon, and grabbed for a fresh weapon.

 

XXX

 

            Inside the manor house a robed figure sat down heavily in an old armchair by the window, a crimson crystal at the end of the wand in her hand glowing hotly for a second. Outside dozens of the hulking plant monsters walked past, products of her most powerful magic.

            But now those human trespassers were still coming. Even if her defenders could stop them, her plans were exposed. How had those miserable humans found out, and maybe more pressingly, where had they found that crazy girl in the hood to send after her?

            She turned to the figure at her side, but **shape** seemed more appropriate. All she could make out over the blackness surrounding him was his grinning skeletal mask with a blue eye socket and a yellow one atop a turtleneck sweater, and the bone-white hands at his sides, one leaning on a spindly black cane.

            “You’ve come a long way for nothing, you know,” she wheezed, and swore the smile on his mask seemed to get wider in response. A garbled buzzing sound came from, more from the openings in his hands than his face, but it was one she’d learned to understand. To an extent, at least.

            “She’s not here, only the boy,” she clarified, but his mask stayed immobile and no reply came as another explosion lit up the night sky outside for a second. “Ruby will be joining us any moment.”

            The masked figure nodded, the buzzing he gave in response sounding calm.

            “Then I suppose you’d better get back to whatever it is you’re doing that outshines me protecting my home,” she said, but when she turned to see if he reacted at all, he was already gone.

Of course he was, he’d never had any interest in her or her desire to strike back at humanity. Only that he knew a fight was coming and it might draw the attention of someone else…

            A winged form landed on the balcony outside the window and slipped inside. She sighed in relief as she recognized the dark-haired girl in the pink and black dress, carrying a glowing wand of her own. “Ruby, my child, you’re back safe...”

            “I came as soon as—” the younger witch started to say, but her mistress silenced her with a wave of her hand.

            “Never mind that. Did you bring them along with you? **He** came looking for the girl.”

            Ruby shook her head. “She wasn’t there, just the boy and a different girl, one with a cold aura. He’s outside now, delaying the human. Come with me, mistress! Together we can—” she said and took her mistress’s hand to try to get her to feet, but the older witch pulled away.

            “No, child. Bring him to me. I promised the Doctor I’d tell him our story, and as infuriating as that man is, I can fulfill one promise tonight.”

 

XXX

 

            Bloodstone’s blade whistle through the air and sliced through BB Hood’s cape but she managed to flip into the air and it missed her body. She unrolled in midair, reached into her basket and pulled out a wine bottle. In front of Bloodstone’s disbelieving eyes it sprayed a thick white foam all over the area, and all over Bloodstone.

            He yelled in surprise and horror as he saw steam rising from his body and realized it was some kind of acid, one that could even get through his armor. With all his speed he jumped into the and his armor expanded outward suddenly into a mass of red spikes and bloats that scattered the clouds of acid in all directions. As Bloodstone landed his armor reformed around him, still sizzling, and he immediately took off in a crouched-over run into the darkness over the field.

            BB Hood stared into the field of plants still standing, probably just normal ones to make the ones hiding those plant creatures harder to suspect. But by then the first of a whole swarm of the giant ones slammed its foot down fifty feet away and almost knocked BB Hood down with the aftershock. Her remaining robots had almost gotten to the manor house but another giant plant had taken a swipe and knocked them down.

            “You think this is something I can’t handle?!” BB Hood called angrily. She held her basket over her head and a missile screamed out of her linen napkins and up into the nearer plant giant’s chest where it exploded. The thing howled with rage but beat out the flames with its hands and reached out for Hood.

            She threw and shot everything she could reach inside her basket, bullets, bazookas and bombs ripping the air. Chunks of the plant went flying off but this one seemed tougher than the one before, filled with some stronger magic, and kept staggering after her and swiping the air with its giant paws as she danced and jumped away from them while flames spread across more and more of its body.

            She tried to keep her eyes open for other dangers as she tried to keep fending off the now limping plant giant, but suddenly yellow eyes lit up behind her and Bloodstone charged out of the darkness. Before she could stop him he landed a punch and a red geyser erupted from his fist, blasting her into the air and toward the plant giant. It reached out to smash her between its giant hands.

            But just before she slammed into its chest she snatched a jar of red jelly out of her basket and smashed it against the monster’s chest. A second later the red smear exploded and ripped the plant giant apart.

As it fell Hood landed feet-first against its waist and jumped off, cape on fire, back toward Bloodstone. At least, where Bloodstone had been. As he saw her reaching for another weapon he darted into the shadows. She landed, brandishing a nasty-looking shotgun, and immediately put on nightvision goggles and swept the area looking for his shape in the dark. Suddenly she spotted the warm outline of a human figure and took aim.

            In the next instant the ground exploded under BB Hood and flung her into the air. Her weapon went spinning out of her hand and in the space of a heartbeat Bloodstone came flying at her in a fierce flying kick tackle. She landed hard and rolled several times. As soon as her vision cleared she could see Bloodstone had her wrists pinned in fingers of cold iron.

            “Call this off now,” he growled warningly, “and you might still walk away from here alive.”         At that she laid back and laughed, a half-crazed look forming in her eyes, then she looked him in the face gave him a frightening grin.

            “You think I’d come here if I was **afraid** of monsters like you?!” BB Hood laughed. “I came here to **kill** everything like you up here! You want me to leave, you’re gonna have to kill **me** to do it!!”

            Bloodstone gave a low, dry laugh in reply. “And because I’m a ‘monster,’ that means that I have to enjoy killing humans, I suppose?”

            She just laughed in his face again. “Oh you’re one of THOSE ones, huh, a ‘monster with a heart of gold’? If only those big nasty humans who just **don’t understand** only got to know you they’d see how nice you really are!” She kicked at his chest with amazing strength, squeezing the air from his lungs and sent out a crunch that he hoped had been his armor. But Bloodstone tightened his grip, the lights in his mask flaring threateningly, and she didn’t try it again.

            “And you, the one who came here loaded up with guns and killer robots and cackling like a maniac are a defender of the powerless, I guess,” Bloodstone said through clenched teeth.

            “And **you** think all these killer plants were up here to do something nice, I guess!” BB Hood retorted then grinned right before a searing beam ripped across Bloodstone’s back and threw him into the air.

            He landed on his back, armor flaking from the heat of the laser. The robot soldier that fired it was facing him down silently as the weapon started to glow for another shot when one of the plant monsters grabbed it off the ground and crushed it in one palm. As creaking metal filled the air the robot fired its laser one last time and blew the plant’s arm off.

            Bloodstone got up and the blades on his arms flashed to their full length. BB Hood and her flunkies had stormed up to the house and only a pair of the plant giants were keeping them at bay. More were stomping closer in the distance but he doubted they’d last long…

            But he’d only taken one step before suddenly a whirling black cloud of feathers whipped up around him and suddenly he was flying through the air toward the house, the witch he’d met before flying next to him.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Bloodstone yelled at her.

            “You heard what she said!” the witch called back, a look of disdain on her lovely face. “If you want to stop her, you’ll have to kill her, and you’re obviously not cut out for a job like that!...Go talk to the mistress, I’ll deal with this! She says she has something important to tell you, but I can’t imagine what she’d have to say to a pitiful excuse for a vampire like you!”

            With that she flew away and the force pulling Bloodstone along dragged him through an upstairs window and abruptly stopped and the feathers fell all around him.

 

            XXX

 

            He brushed the dark feathers off his head and shoulders, sighing in irritation. He looked around, finding himself in a room like the upstairs parlor in his family’s house, but all the furniture was covered with white sheets and the vases by the windows were empty except for dust. The only thing uncovered was an armchair by a fireplace in the far wall that glowed a soft orange. On the armrest Bloodstone could make out a gnarled hand.

            He was peering at what looked like vine growth in the stairwell when “Hello, boy,” said a dry, tired voice. “You’ve come a long way to see me, haven’t you?”

            “I came to find a witch named Oyakata,” Bloodstone answered as he walked around to face her. She looked at up him, showing a wrinkled face with dark lines below her eyes and long silver hair that spilled over the back of the chair. “Are you Oyakata?” he asked, a little cautiously.

            She chuckled tiredly and leaned forward to look him in the eye. “Do you even know why you were sent to find me, boy?” she asked him.

            “I was told you could help me find a pair of vampires who’d gone missing,” he answered simply. “That’s all I’m interested in right now.”

            The witch laughed lightly and sank back into her chair. “I’m sure that friend of yours who sent you here wants you to think of bigger things than two vampires. Him, the one who runs your school? He thinks some great danger’s coming, and he sent you to bring me back to him so I can help him stop it from…I don’t know, destroying the world, probably. I had plans of my own, but it seems like that crazy girl out there already knows about them.”

            Bloodstone looked away from here as an explosion glowed against the dark sky for a second. “Which one?” he muttered.

Oyakata laughed again, sounding tired and resigned. “Ruby’s a good girl,” she said and smiled as a distant look came over her eyes. “When I met her she was so young and lost…she’d just lost her family in an accident and all she could think about was how unfair the world was to take such wonderful people away from her. I suppose we all think of our families that way.”

            “Not all of us,” Bloodstone replied without missing a beat.

            “At least you know your family, boy. At least the hope is there,” Oyakata replied evenly. “But Ruby and I were all we had in the world. We made our home here because of the flowers, and how everyone seemed to love them, and we thought we’d just be left alone here in peace. But not long ago we found out the area was going to be bulldozed and turned into a dump site. For a while I lost my wits. Ruby and I created a force to invade the city down there and destroy everything as a warning. But then…”

            “Then you learned about Hood coming for you?” Bloodstone supplied as another explosion flashed outside the window and the dark shape of a slain plant giant fell past.

            Oyakata shook her head and rose from the chair and walked past him. “No,” she replied quietly. “ ** _Someone else_**...” she said, then shuddered at the memory. “The Doctor, we call him, he came and warned me that the girl out there, yes, had found out about us somehow and was coming to attack us. He said he’d protect me if I helped him with his goals.” Before Bloodstone could ask who this Doctor was, the witch continued.

“But I saw how dangerous I’d made things by creating that army out there. I’d drawn a killer here putting Ruby in danger…I’m old and I’ve made some foolish choices. But she’s so young, and deserves better than to die with me up here tonight. I’ll make sure you get the information you’re after, boy, in exchange for a favor from you.”

            “In exchange for what?” he asked. “Saving you from Hood? Or this ‘Doctor’ of yours?”

            She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s too late for that. In exchange for taking Ruby with you when you return. Let her have a place to belong, just like Mikogami gave you.”

            He nodded. “All right. But now I should go stop the fight out there.”

            Oyakata picked up a tattered book and turned to face him.

            “ **Run, boy** ,” she whispered.

 

XXX

 

            Ruby watched as another plant giant fell to the laser barrage of BB Hood’s remaining robot guards, while the maniacal girl herself held another at bay with a barrage of gunfire. The witch fumed with rage. Was this what all their planning was going to come down to? Complete destruction at the hands of a crazed girl and her toys?

            She held up her wand and the stone flashed with power. The ground around Hood’s feet suddenly cracked and a mass of barbed vines came shooting out in all directions forming a cage around her. Glaring threateningly down at the girl Ruby yelled and waved her wand, making the cage close in around Hood.

            As she looked up at Ruby, though, if anything her grin had gotten even wider. In her hand was a red lollipop but as she yanked the wrapper off it burst into flame. Hood waved it at the vines closing in and seared through them with ease. She came jumping through the vines and threw her flaming confection at Ruby who dove out of the way and brandished her wand again.

            A circle of glistening eyes lit up in the darkness around Hood and a flock of crows before a flock of angry crows erupted like a hurricane. They pecked and tore at Hood’s shoulders and clothes and she ran back and forth trying to get a second of clear to get another weapon out of her basket: a jar full of what looked like candy balls. She tore the lid off and chucked the contents into the air where they exploded into colorful, noisy bursts like fireworks. The crows cawed angrily but scattered for the few seconds Hood need to break away from inside them.

            Suddenly Ruby saw Bloodstone come jumping out of the top floor of the house. He arced through the air just before the walls of the house splintered. Ruby let out a gasp of surprise as the remains of the dead plant monsters that now littered the hill melted into streams of green slime and flowed up to the house. Even the plant giant at her side turned and stomped up the hill along with the other still standing. They paid no attention to BB Hood and her accomplices; any pieces sliced off by their blasts melted into slime and flowed away with the rest.

            Ruby flew down to where Bloodstone crouched behind a big rock, pinned down by BB Hood’s gunfire. As she folded her wings into her back she screeched at Bloodstone, “What’s going on here?! What did you do to the mistress??”

            “I listened to her story like you told me to, then she picked up a book and told me to run away!” he yelled back over the roar of a barrage pelting the rock. “So I did!”

            “What book?!” Ruby yelled, but her words were drowned by the remaining robots firing their weapons suddenly, almost frantically. The clots of green slime slithering up to the house had crawled up around their metal legs and were dragging the mechanical killers along with them as the robots fired their weapons and tried uselessly to pull free. The slime even picked up the broken remains of the robots they’d managed to destroy.

            The house creaked again and wall slats popped open, revealing a huge pulsating shape inside. BB Hood aimed a bazooka at the side of the house just as the rest of the slime slipped in and the plant giants melted and slid inside too.

            She never got to fire it. The house suddenly exploded, sending sharpened hunks of wood and glass went flying in all directions. Bloodstone yelled and shoved the boulder he and Ruby crouched behind higher to shield them from the rain of debris. A few feet away he could see BB Hood rolling down the hill sporting a few new tears in her dress and cape.

            Then the dark form of the thing that’d smashed its way out of the house unfolded into a massive, grotesque bulging shape. It spread further and further, seeming to cover the sky. It was a bulbous cluster of plants with the giant saw-toothed mouths of the smaller plant monsters sticking out in every direction, snapping open and shut like they were eager to feed. Even the metal bodies of BB Hood’s robot troops sticking out through holes in its leathery skin, struggling feebly and shaking their heads back and forth.

            And at the top of a towering central stalk, surrounded by the gaping mouths of the plant creatures she created, was the limp face of Oyakata, a pale white light flowing out of her eyes and mouth, matching the light floating from the pages of the book lodged into the green skin at her feet.

            “MISTRESS!!” Ruby screamed. But the massive plant golem shifted forward and started moving to the lights of the town in the distance on giant misshapen feet, ignoring her completely. The sound of a rifle being cocked managed to cut the air just before BB Hood fired a shell into the plant golem’s side but it went totally ignored as the thing took another ground-crushing step closer to the town.

            “Ooooooohh,” BB Hood gasped, quivering in anticipation. “That thing’s gonna make me RICH when I sell the parts!”

            Ruby cried out in terror and her wings spread from her back before she flew to the top of the thing that had once been her teacher and only friend. Bloodstone growled in frustration as she did, leaving him behind. Now she was the only one who could tell him what he needed to know, and he’d have to deal with the planet golem to get her to talk. But BB Hood would be taking potshots at him while trying bring it down…he had to deal with her first, and fast.

            The yellow light in the sockets of his mask flashed brightly and he dropped into a low run in an arc through the darkness. Not seeming to notice him with the huge target she had to focus on instead, BB Hood readied another weapon. As she was about to lob a grenade Bloodstone sprang at her, arcing through the air…and just before he could tackle her she suddenly turned and pointed what looked like a flare gun at his chest with a twisted smile.

            She’d been ready for him the whole time.

            But as she squeezed the trigger a shell of ice suddenly spread across the weapon and covered Hood’s hand. She gasped in surprised but Bloodstone just growled as he plowed into her.

            “I’m giving you a last chance to leave here in one piece!” Bloodstone snarled, a guttural tone in his voice as his hunter instincts started taking over.

            BB Hood growled and grabbed at her basket for another weapon, not even bantering with him this time. As she reached for it a huge ice ball of ice fell out of the sky and crushed it, making Hood gasp in surprise. Bloodstone got off her and heaved her down the hill.

“This is the only chance you’re getting human! Don’t waste it!” he growled.

            She opened her mouth to reply before a flurry of gleaming ice javelins shot out of the sky and she had to scramble out of the way before she was impaled. Hood scowled up at him, but clutching her ice-covered hand she turned and ran off into the darkness. Bloodstone watched her go, sure that he’d meet again soon and she’d be looking forward to it.

            But for the moment he turned and glanced over one shoulder. “You can come out, Mizore.” A second later the girl peeked out from behind a row of sunflowers.

            “Hi.”

            “Why’d you come here? I left you at the restaurant so you’d be safe.”

            “I came ‘cause you were in trouble,” she replied bluntly as always.

            He sighed. “Since you’re here, and I’m going to need all the help I can get, follow me. But don’t run up to the monster, whatever happens. Am I perfectly clear?”

            “Okay,” was her short reply. But she was smiling around her lollipop as she followed.

 

XXX

 

            Sizzling blue beams ripped through the air and singed the end off one of Ruby’s wings. She cried out in pain and surprise but dove and flipped through them until she managed to get close enough to land on top of the plant golem. She ran over the shifting green skin beneath her feet to where she could still see the face of her mentor.

            Even as she watched, though, Oyakata’s body seemed to sink slowly into the plant matter around her. “MISTRESS!!” Ruby screamed and grabbed her friend’s hand, pulling with all her might to free her from the monstrosity around them. Her hand slipped and the witch went tumbling backward. She clawed her way to her knees with tears welling in her eyes.

            “ **Why** , mistress?? Why would you do this?!” Ruby wailed. “Why would you give your life like this when we were just about to launch our attack?!”

            But still Oyakata didn’t reply, staring into the distance as the light glaring from her eyes seemed to grow even brighter. “What did The Doctor have over you you?!” Ruby screamed, but then bit down angrily on her lip and flew into the air again. Brandishing her wand she sent a crescent of light spinning through the air toward where Oyakata was buried to cut her free. One of the entombed robots launched a beam, obliterating it.

She gasped in dismay but flew in again, wand glowing with power to cut Oyakata free from right in front of her. Ruby stopped right in front of her teacher’s hollow eyes but as she raised her wand suddenly a pair of tendrils shot up and attached themselves to her neck, and started to suck the life out of her. As Ruby tried to concentrate and resist another vine wrapped around her wand and crushed it to splinters…

            On the ground Bloodstone dashed after the plant golem. Any minute it would be spotted from the town, and that would be it. Monsters wouldn’t be able to hide the truth of their existence anymore, and after the destruction of the town, the humans would be out for blood.

            He considered his Magnum Vermillion attack, but his arm twitched back as if his body was protesting against it…and then he spotted a faint white glow near the top. His inhuman vision zeroed in on it and he recognized the book Oyakata had been holding just before she changed into that thing.

            She’d been showing him where to attack.

            “Mizore, can you freeze that thing’s feet to the ground? It only needs to hold for a minute,” Bloodstone asked.

            “Yeah,” Mizore replied, beaming at being asked to help. She raised her arms high and immediately the temperature around them plummeted. Bloodstone growled in irritation but held still and let her work. After a few seconds Mizore’s hair started to form into icicles, and as they’d been hoping a cocoon of ice formed around one of the giant plant’s feet. It grunted in surprise and tried to pull free but as another foot hit the ground more ice formed and pinned it to the ground too.

            “Now, Mizore…I need **height** ,” Bloodstone said. “Can you make me some steps? I need to get to the top of that thing.”

            She nodded and a block of ice as tall as either of them formed near the monster. She concentrated again and another one twice as tall formed attached to that one. As Mizore formed yet another even bigger ice block Bloodstone’s eyes went burning yellow yellow as he let his predatory instincts take over completely.

            He made a heavy jumped onto the first ice block, driving his boots half an inch into the surface so he wouldn’t skit then jumped to the next step up. Mizore watched as he climbed her makeshift stairs and wondered what his plan was…or with the savage growl he let out as he jumped from the last step to the top of the plant monster, if he could even think of one now.

            Bloodstone charged over the pulsing mass of the plant’s skin, his hunting instincts assessing every inch looking for any threat. One giant mouth extended itself outward to reach him, jaws snapping, but Bloodstone turned and with merciless ease hacked it off from the body with one effortless slice from his elbow-blade.

            Without warning a swarm of arm-sized missiles came screaming up over the side of the giant and twisted through the air in Bloodstone’s direction. So she could use the weapons on those robots she’d absorbed too?

Not making a sound he went into a bent-over run across the monster. A few of them crashed into the ground behind him and went off without coming anywhere near. Another one came closer but as it went off Bloodstone jumped just before it made impact and watched in amusement as it ripped a hole in the plant’s flesh instead. The final missile came straight at him in midair and Bloodstone contemptuously slashed it in two.

A laser beam sizzled up through the monster’s skin and blasted him hard in the chest. Bloodstone flew backward through the air and landed stunned in a small crater on the monster’s back, armor smoking and chipped where he’d been hit. Immediately jagged yellow teeth sprouted from the edges and it closed around Bloodstone before he could get to his feet. Within seconds bulges formed on the outside as Bloodstone tried to punch his way out, then seemed to go silent.

But a second later the plant-mouth exploded as Bloodstone erupted from it like a bladed hurricane and spraying plant matter everywhere. Grunting in annoyance, ignoring the smoking divot in the front of his armor, the vampire took one last powerful leap and landed in front of the stalk where Oyakata was entombed.

A few steps away he saw Ruby trapped in the grip of a mass of barbed vines. The tips were pressed against her skin and slowly gulping her blood. She managed to raise her head and feebly gasped, “Vampire…help me!”

Bloodstone heard her but only examined her for a second and turned away. He was completely possessed by his hunter’s instincts, and they told him to destroy this lowly plant creature, whose size had given it the gall to think it could conquer him with its gaping mouths and the commandeered weapons of those robot soldiers.

            And he knew exactly how to do that.

            “ **Heartbreaker Punch!** ” the Bloodstone itself screamed. He charged his fist with crimson power and smashed it with all of his awesome might into the book at Oyakata’s feet and making the air seem to scream with pain, a reverberating shockwave ripping through the plant golem’s body. Pages flew through the air and the glow they gave off went out as their power faded from Bloodstone’s destructive attack.

Huge tears started forming around Bloodstone’s feet and the plant golem’s countless mouths all flew open in a silent scream. Bloodstone’s skull mask disintegrated into dusty particles that blew away. As Nigeki’s face was exposed the expression of abject rage on it softened into a daze and he shook his head as Bloodstone’s hunter instincts released him.

“Vampire…please, help me,” he heard Ruby gasp from nearby. He limped over but even as his armor melted away he managed to slash through the vines holding her and pulled them off her slender arms. She gasped in relief but before she could say anything he set her down and jumped over to where Oyakata laid, and clawed at the vines around her for what seemed like forever before managing to haul her out and lay her over one shoulder.

The plant golem’s body heaved under their feet and Nigeki took a massive jump into the air away while Ruby managed to spread her black wings and fly to safety as the plant golem fell to bits.

 

XXX

 

Nigeki’s feet dug into the ground as he landed, skidded and fell hard onto his back. He desperately shifted Oyakata into his arms so he wouldn’t crush her as he fell, and cried out as he slid against the ground. He managed to scramble to his feet and staggered away from the collapsing plant golem until his legs finally gave out, his armor completely gone.

            Once the noise had all ended he gently set Oyakata down on the ground and asked, “Are you all right?”

            She gave a smile that made her look even more wrinkled, but as if a huge weight was off her shoulders. “No, boy. I’m not,” the witch answered with a dry laugh. “You don’t really expect me to get back up from a punch like the one you gave me, do you?”

            Before Nigeki had the chance to answer something suddenly flew down from the sky and slammed into Nigeki’s side knocking him away from Oyakata. He jumped back up ready to fight with what little energy he still had, but stopped when he saw Ruby kneeling over her teacher, eyes glistening with tears. “Mistress! Tell me you’ll be all right!”

            “I just told him I won’t be, child,” Oyakata replied. “I’m not about to lie to you…you deserve the truth here at the end.

            “But why?! Why did you place that spell on yourelf?? You knew you wouldn’t be able to return to normal!”

            Oyakata touched her cheek. “So I could destroy those mechanical fiends and leave this world with a clear conscience, my little one. I’ve lived a long life and most of it away from the world. But my meeting with the Doctor and his request for our help…it helped me realize how big the world is, and how you need to see how big it is beyond Witch’s Knoll.”

            “Mistress…” Ruby sobbed.

            Again Oyakata cupped her cheek. “Go with the vampire, my little one. He helped us and now we need to help him. Give him the information he was promised. He will take you to a safe place where you can begin to sample the supernatural world,” she said, then beckoned for Nigeki to come over to her. He nodded and kneeled down by her side.

            “I know you came here looking for something close and personal to you, boy,” she said, her voice growing faint with every word. “But I have an awful feeling you’ve just landed yourself in something bigger than you ever imagined.

“He’s watching for you…Beware of the Doctor, boy... _beware of the man who speaks in hands_!!” Oyakata croaked, then seized Nigeki suddenly by the front of his shirt before falling back and shutting her eyes. Ruby burst into tears and Nigeki reached out to touch her supportively on the shoulder, but she pulled away from the vampire. He got up and walked away to let her be alone with her grief.

God, he should’ve expected it, he thought. But even as drained as he felt after all that he heard the crunch of something being crushed under someone’s foot. He groaned and got ready to fight again…

…but sighed in relief as he recognized the long lavender hair and striped knee socks of Mizore Shirayuki coming out from behind a stand of sunflowers.

“There you are,” she said simply.

“Yeah,” he said, smiling a little sheepishly. “Are you—”

            But she asked first. “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah. I’ve got a couple scrapes and I think I used up all my blood reserve, but I’m fine—”

            All of a sudden Mizore had closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. “Good,” she murmured. “I’m glad.”

            Not sure what to say, Nigeki just smiled a tired smile and patted her on the back with one hand. She cooed softly in approval.

 

XXX

 

            Half an hour later Nigeki unlocked the back door at Daphne and Mizore practically danced inside. “I’ll go run us a bath,” she purred to Nigeki with an understated smile.

            “I could sure use one,” he replied, the way his body and torn clothes were covered in dirt after what they’d just been through. “You go ahead, though. I’m going to make sure nobody followed us first.” Mizore winked and danced up the stairs.

            Ruby, on the other hand, hesitated to go inside. “Is it really all right if I stay here with you?”

            “It will be after you tell me where my sisters are,” Nigeki answered her.

            She nodded. “I will, but after what just happened we’re all weak. It would—”

            “ **No!** ” Nigeki grabbed her by the shoulders, flashing his fangs. “I was promised help finding my family, **and I’m getting it**. **No** tricks, **no** games. You show me where **RIGHT NOW**.”

            The witch started at him in wide-eyed fear, but after a second he recovered and let her go. “I’m sorry, but we absolutely can’t wait,” he said. “Hood works for the people who have my sisters, right?”

            Ruby nodded slowly. “Yes. Those machines of hers had the same symbol as the ones who captured the young vampires.”

            “Then it probably won’t be long before they find out she lost, and that the person who beat her’s probably looking for their hideout. If we wait it might be too late for my sisters. I have to act right now.”

            “And you’re going to just leave your girlfriend here?” Ruby asked.

            “She **isn’t** my girlfriend,” Nigeki glowered. “And yes I am, because I can’t ask my friends to risk their lives. Let’s go.”

            Ruby studied him for a second and frowned, but then nodded. “All right, I’ll show you.”

 

XXX

 

            Soon Nigeki was peering out of an alley between two buildings at the door to a cellar behind an old house that looked like it hadn’t been lived in for a year. But that could also mean these people were just good at covering their tracks…

            “You’re sure this is it?” the vampire asked. “How do you know?”

            “All the birds and plants in this town were our spies,” Ruby explained. “We were going to attack these AGES people but they made the first move.”

            “AGES? What does that mean?” Nigeki asked, but the witch only shrugged in reply.

            He sighed, then pulled back into the darkness, taking Ruby by the hand with him. “Look,” he said slowly. “I’m sorry for how I treated you before we left. You were really upset about your teacher.”

            “And you’re worried about your sisters. It must be a blessing to know who they are,” Ruby replied. “…will you really take me with you after this? Back to that place of yours with people like you? Like **us**?”

            Nigeki nodded slowly. “Yes, but only if you don’t tell Mizore where I’m going after you get back.”

            “What…?” Ruby asked, puzzled, then his meaning dawned on her. “You’re going in there by yourself? But you used so much power, how can you possibly—”

            “I’m going off to feed,” Nigeki replied and walked past her. “No-one’s going to die and no-one’s going to get hurt who doesn’t have it coming. But I need blood and I need it **fast**. Don’t let Mizore come after me, don’t tell her where I am. And please, tell her that no matter how she feels, I can’t put anyone else at risk anymore.”

            Then he disappeared into the shadows like the creature of the night he truly was.


	3. Prejudidces

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 14 – Prejudices**

 

            Her name was Azusa Matsudaira.

            She had custody of her son Jun for the weekend, and as they sometimes did when she could get the time away, they’d planned a hiking trip. This time to a place called Witch’s Knoll that was supposed to be covered with beautiful sunflowers.

            But now she sat cowering behind the wheel of her rental car as the horrific screech of a thug’s knife tip dragging across the hood filled the air.

            “Come on, lady!” he sneered. “Come on out of the car! We just need a little money to make it to the end of the month! If you help us out I promise this’ll go a lot easier for you…”

            She stomped on the gas but the car could only limp away with two slashed tires. “Kaaaaaaa-saaaan!” Jun screamed from the back seat. Already Azusa could see the three lowlifes jogging to easily catch up with her and surround the car again.

            “What’s it going to be lady?” the leader of the gang asked again, the blade of his knife flashing in the moonlight. Azusa thought of just opening the window and throwing her purse, hoping they really would just let her and Jun go. Instead she gasped as suddenly a person seemed to fade into existence next to the gang leader.

            He was a dark-haired boy in his teens, but from his ragged clothes and being smeared head-to-toe with dirt she figured him for homeless. The gang leader turned toward him in surprise, scared for a second, Then when he saw the intruder was just a teen his sneer returned.

            “Get out of here, kid…isn’t it past your bedtime?” he laughed. But the boy’s hand suddenly flashed out and grabbed his knife, then squeezed down on the blade and crushed it into a storm of glittering shards.

            Before the gang leader could even react the boy suddenly lunged and **sank his teeth into the man’s neck.**

            The gang member struggled limply in silence for a minute before the boy stepped back and let him drop to the ground. He rolled onto his stomach and tried to crawl away, twitching in terror, drained but alive. But immediately the boy turned and ran off, a slender black blur, after the other two gang members who’d already run away.

            Azusa froze and sucked in a long, low breath as she tried to steady herself.

            Who was that boy?

            Who had been her vampire savior?

  
XXX

 

            Takano Aoyama hadn’t been especially surprised when her two new friends came back with a new friend of their own after whatever happened out on Witch’s Knoll.

            But after Mizore’s display of devotion, she was surprised not to see Nigeki himself returning with her.

            The temperature in the rooms above Daphne was plummeting. Ruby had wrapped herself in the futon Takano had offered, Takano herself just sat there seemingly unaffected. Through the wall her father’s snoring had slowed and she could hear a loud shiver every few seconds through the thin wall instead.

            Mizore sat in the middle of the room, staring intently at her knees as her hair reformed into thick icicles and her eyes turned a pale blue. Frost was forming on the corners of the walls. A needle-like icicle had already formed on the tip of her lollipop.

            “I went and helped him, and he just ran away again.”

            “He didn’t just run away,” Takano replied. “He didn’t want to risk your safety.”

            “What’s the difference?!” Mizore hissed, literally glowing with blue energy as she did. Huge clusters of white frost solidified on everything and the window cracked from the sudden drop in temperature.

            But Takano stood up and a light breeze blew through the room, a green light surrounding her. Her ears suddenly flashed out to twice their length and ending in an elven point. “That’s enough,” she said gently. The ice started to melt and the aura around Mizore started to go out.

            “What are you doing?” Mizore growled, but Takano waved her hand in front of the yuki onna’s face, scattering glowing dust in the air. Mizore gave her a literal icy stare, but Takano didn’t move, and the smell of flowers started to fill the room.

“Calm down, Shirayuki-san,” Takano whispered. “Everything will be all right.” Most dust flowed from her hand and Mizore’s eyelids started to droop and then she fell backward onto her loaned futon. Takano sighed lightly and pulled a blanket up over Mizore to let her sleep comfortably.

            Ruby leaned back against the wall and sighed in relief. Her wand had been destroyed in her mistress’s rampage, and without it she was feeling almost naked. “Thank you,” she breathed. “I’m ashamed to admit it, but I don’t know if I could’ve done much about it if she’d gotten any angrier…you’re obviously more than you appear, though.”

            Takano gave her a level look. “Does it matter?”

            “I don’t know, does it?” Ruby replied with the same question. “It wasn’t that long ago my mistress and I were planning to destroy this entire town. If we’d known there were youkai here, we might’ve tried to evacuate you first.”

            But Takano smiled lightly and shook her head. “This is my home. My family’s here. Or it will be after Koji finishes cooking school and comes back.

            “Yes, your fiancé,” Ruby murmured. “Is he also…?”

            “No, he’s human. So is tou-san. It’s a long story,” Takano replied and laid down before pulling a blanket over herself. “And we should probably all get some rest, don’t you think? I don’t think Nigeki would want us to worry about him.”

            Ruby lay down too and flattened out the blanket, but her eyes stayed open for a few more minutes. “He wouldn’t?” she finally asked.

            “Why wouldn’t he?”

            The witch sighed and laid back. “He has everything he wanted from me. He promised to take me back to their school, but would you help someone you only just met, who got you dragged into a fight? Someone who…”

            “Someone who what?” Takano gently prompted her.

            “…someone who wanted to destroy a town for planning to destroy your home. I…I don’t know,” Ruby sighed. “Maybe the mistress is right. Maybe there is a lot for me to see.”

 

XXX

 

            Robert Blacher scowled as he spotted a speck of dust on the sleeve of his immaculate blue suit, the only thing the least bit unsanitary anywhere to be seen on the sleek white halls of the base. He brushed it off with a grimace, straightened his dark beard with his other hand then made his way to one of the sealed electronic doors, flashed his pass and fingerprints at the scanner and it opened with a hiss of air.

            Inside the walls were lined with monitors and other electronic readouts. On most of them were a pair of young girls—or so they looked, but Blacher knew better—in white hospital gowns. In the center of the room, wearing a dull silver helmet connected to a computer by heavy cables was a young woman with short auburn hair, garbed in an indigo jacket and jeans. Standing by her was an old man, brown-haired and sharp-eyed but marring the area around his right eye were a series of claw-like scars.

            “Ah, I hope I’m not interrupting, Dr. Crawler,” Blacher said.

            “Crawley,” the man corrected him, but held out his hand in greeting. Blacher shook it. “And please, call me Reed. This is my assistant, Shelley Frank.”

            “Ah, yes, the ESPer,” Blacher replied with no trace of interest.

Reed nodded and forced a smile for the inspector. “Shelley’s been scanning and finding her way through their minds with her powers. We’ve made a lot of progress in mapping the vampire neural system to affect a reversal process.”

“Are you achieving control over the subjects?”

            Reed shook his head. “We’re not doing this to try to control them, sir. We’re trying to establish enough information to effect a cure to their condition. The mental differences are some of the most difficult to plot.”

            “Of course, of course. But the backers want a failsafe plan in case things turn violent. You knew that going in, doctor, and they’re getting tired of the lack of signs of life on this project.”

            “We were brought on board to neutralize supernatural dangers, Mr. Blacher.”

            “ _Eliminate_ supernatural dangers, Dr. Crawley,” Blacher retorted.

            As they argued Shelley felt a strange coldness at the edges of her telepathic sense. Strange but familiar, like the girls she whose brains she had been gently trying to probe. There was another sensation there, a kind of anger, like a restless beast who knew danger was near but had no choice to approach regardless.

            She focused her attention more on this new presence, probing for the cause of its unease. It wasn’t looking to attack, so much as coming in search of its kind. For a second Shelley hesitated, then looked over at her boss and Blacher arguing over what each thought the point of their project was.

            And she surreptitiously sent a thought with her power.

 

XXX

 

            The wall of the cellar slid open with a sudden hiss of air that set Nigeki’s nerves on edge. For a second he stood staring down the blindingly white hall, wondering what had just happened. He’d found the keypad after a minute of looking, but the code…his fingers had seemed to move all by themselves.

            But it didn’t matter. He finally knew where Mei and Satsuki had been taken and he had some of his strength back. If anyone got in his way, they’d regret it. Nigeki slipped into the hallway and made his way past doors and down corners, looking for any sign of where they might be holding captives.

            For minutes on end he wandered through the passages with nothing to guide him besides minimalist signs on the various doors. “Storage 1,” “Storage 2,” “Office – K”…When he heard footsteps he would duck into the darkness of the nearest deep doorway and wait as their owners went past. He kept hoping for someone he could interrogate to find where prisoners were kept, but all three times the feet belonged to robotic guards. They were like the ones he’d fought at Witch’s Knoll, but thinner, leaner, and the look in the red eyes peering out of their sloped faces seeming even more vicious. If his kind didn’t have an affinity for hiding in shadows he was sure he would’ve been caught.

            But after a while Nigeki passed a window set into one wall. Inside was a tall glass tube full of a green liquid, and inside that was a man, tall, muscular and broad-shouldered. Long red hair billowed out around his head. At the bottom of the tube was an ECG monitor, and across the top if it in white letters was a name.

            BELMONT.

            Belmont? As in…?

            Then the man’s eyes flicked open and zeroed in on Nigeki. His face was expressionless but he seemed to stare holes right through the vampire. Nigeki backed away and ran off down the corridor as quick as he could, somehow afraid the man would alert the complex they had an intruder.

            What was it about him? Was it the strength of his build, or the force in his eyes alone that told Nigeki he’d be a force to be reckoned with?

Or was it just the name?

            Suddenly his sharp ears picked up the sound of a gun being cocked and he threw himself to the ground before a wave of bullets ripped into the end of the hall. He leopard-crawled around the corner and wasn’t surprised by the pair of security robots charging down at him, and the sadistic laugh from behind.

            “That’s you, isn’t it, bloodsucker?!” the voice of BB Hood cut through the air. “Thought you had me beat so you tracked me down to try and finish me off, I bet! Let me tell you something, though: you got all your powers from your species or curses or whatever, but humans got to be on top because we’re the most inventive and adaptable!”

            Nigeki didn’t reply to her bragging. He was in no mood to banter with his enemies. As the pair of robot guards closed in he only said one word.

            “ **Henshin**.”

 

XXX

 

            Red light surged through the halls for a second as Bloodstone’s armor flowed out and solidified over Nigeki. The veins crisscrossing the armor seemed to throb angrily before his mask appeared and locked itself around his face.

            The pair of guard robots were knocked down by the force of his summoning and spewed sparks from their joints, but got up and pressed their attack. Both leveled their arms at him and compartments opened in their wrists, firing off steel cables tipped with three-pronged grappling hooks. Bloodstone hacked two of them off with the blade on one gauntlet but the other two lodged in his shoulder and hip. Powerful electrical current ripped down the cable and into the vampire’s body, making him jerk and spasm violently.

A cry of pain half-escaped from his throat but then the yellow eyes in his mask blazed as the primal hunter brought out by his transformation took over completely. He leveled one clenched fist at the robot and his belt’s threatening voice called out, “ **Crimson Binder!** ” Slimy red strands spewed from his knuckles and coated the cables, muffling the current and also wrapping around the robot like a pulsing red cocoon. Freed from the electricity Bloodstone yanked his arm back, pulling the robot to him and smashed his fist into its torso with an echoing crunch. The cables snapped as it went skidding down the hall.

            It picked itself up off the floor, only looking a little dented. The other was already on top of Bloodstone. Its hands flipped back and revealed a pair of screeching buzzaws that it swung at the vampire. Sparks and tiny hunks of red sludge flew from the impacts but Bloodstone turned the next of the robot’s swings aside with a vicious swipe of his gauntlet’s blade. It sliced right through one arm at the elbow and left a ragged gash across the robot’s torso. Before the mechanized guard could plan another attack, he dashed and shoulder-checked it into a wall.

            The buzzsaw raked against his forehead, startling Bloodstone for just a fraction of a second but it was enough for the robot to squirm free and reveal another weapon. A panel flicked up in its chest and Bloodstone jumped back a step, expecting a giant laser cannon like the ones from before. Instead it was a weapon with a large central barrel and another sticking out of each corner.

Instead of a beam it shot streams of a grey goo that splattered against Bloodstone’s chest and started to sizzle like acid, while at the same time starting to…solidify? Within seconds it had turned into something like hard rubber attached to his chest and still burning away at it. The robot reeled him in.

…and Bloodstone let out a cry as Hood came around the corner and grinned sadistically as she fired a submachine gun down the hall and peppered the vampire as well as the robot guard with bullets that burst into flame as they made impact. Bloodstone cried out again in rage and shot a murderous glare back at Hood, but she just loaded another clip and pulled the trigger.

Bloodstone’s armor was covered in flames at the back and being eaten away the robot’s acidic glue from the other side. He pulled away and the rubbery strand started to creak when another one just like it splattered against his arm and started to drag him in the direction of the other robot, like they were trying to pull him apart.

“ **Soul Cutter!** ” his belt screamed and blazed, filling the entire hallway with a blinding red light. The robots froze, their sensors overwhelmed, and Hood screamed and turned away, afraid she’d be blinded the intensity of the light. While they were distracted Bloodstone howled like the angry predator he was and lashed out with the blade on his gauntlet, glowing white-hot against the red light.

The blade grew even wider as it sliced mercilessly into both robots, even the one who was down at the end of the hall. An impossibly thin white line was left passing through both of them and even the wall behind them. Bloodstone swung his other blade and sliced through them a second time through their legs. Then with a scream of victory he slashed one more time through their torsos. White power flowed down the lines he’d cut to the tip of the blade and as it did their bodies started to disintegrate. When the burst of light from the start of his attack cleared there was nothing to mark the guards’ presence but trails of charred silver dust on the floor.

But no sooner had the light cleared than a mini-missile screamed through the air at him. Bloodstone ducked but it exploded as soon as it was right over him, and even through the noise of the blast he could hear Hood shrieking with laughter.

The vampire stood up shakily. Shrapnel was buried in the back of his armor which was already crumbling from all the incendiary ammo she’d hit him with.

Bloodstone staggered drunkenly to his right, but as she fired again he suddenly lunged left surprising speed and vaulted off the wall. As he went flying past he wrenched the missile launcher out of Hood’s hands and crushed it in his own. She’d fallen for a feint…maybe her kind had gotten where they were thanks to their ability to invent instruments of death, but beings like him _were_ instruments of death.

“You know I have more toys than that to share with you!” Hood laughed and produced what looked like a jumprope from her cape. But Bloodstone didn’t waste words on her; the part of him that was Nigeki Hitoribo was for the moment totally absorbed by the part that thought himself to be a noble beast. One that didn’t deign to acknowledge the words of a lowly scavenger like her, who killed monsters to harvest their remains.

For once her maniacal grin faded, but as she unfurled her toy and started to twirl it, setting the rope glowing, a huge metal shutter suddenly crashed down between them.

“Gaaarrgh!” Bloodstone screamed and pounded on it with his fists, leaving massive dents in the metal. The blade on the end of one gauntlet extended but he lowered his arm as he felt a strange sensation in his mind. Something reminding him he came here to find something besides a human to tear apart. He turned toward it, and behind him, clutching her head to focus the telepathic power she was bringing to bear on the armored vampire, were Shelley Frank and Reed Crawley.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” he asked Bloodstone. “You’re the ‘big brother’ those two girls are talking about who they can smell from across the base.”

The vampire’s eyes surged with anger for a second sending a painful surge into Shelley’s mind and she backed off with a gasp. But then he let his armor melt away and his mask release, leaving a dirt-smeared teen. He’d already used up a lot of the blood he’d drank, and if these humans were trying something by acting friendly, it’d go better if he played along.

That didn’t mean his patience wasn’t wearing thin, though. “Take me to them. Now,” Nigeki said.

“That was the plan, son,” Shelley replied.

 

XXX

 

            The two girls had been huddling together for what little protection and hope that provided them. It had been hours since they’d been given their tiny ration of blood.

            “Is this breakfast or supper?” Mei, the one who was just two years out of diapers, had asked, as she always did.

            “I don’t know. When was the last time we even saw the sun out?” Satsuki, the older sister by five years, had replied, as she always did. She knew she was supposed to be brave and encouraging her sister through their experience, but she honestly couldn’t remember how long ago these humans had taken them, and locked them in this room.

            Every day she felt them probing inside her brain with telepathy, mapping how a vampire brain was different from a human brain, or so they said. At first Mei had screamed and thrown herself against the walls and door when it happened. Now she just clung to Satsuki and whimpered lightly as the scientists did what they said was to help monsters and humans coexist.

            Then less than an hour ago, Satsuki had noticed a bizarre scent coming through the ventilation. Mei had noticed it too, and asked her sister to tell her why it seemed familiar.

            “I don’t know,” Satsuki had replied, wanting to just give in to exhaustion and hope the humans would have what they wanted and finally let them go when she woke up. But Mei had glared at her and bit her on the arm.

            “Yes you do! Tell me!! I don’t know how yet!!!” Mei wailed. Satsuki had sighed and sniffed the air. Trying to place the scenes.

“Something like stale blood, I guess…? But muddy…and…”

“Home!” Mei interrupted her with excitement. “It smells like home, right???”

“Yes, I think it does. Like the rest of the family.”

            It was almost comical the way Mei clung to the bars of their cell and bounced up on and down, her older sister thought. But it had been Satsuki’s own fault. She shouldn’t have said anything…shouldn’t have let Mei get her hopes up.

            But then there was the hiss of air of the door to the hall opening. The pair of humans who’d been probing their brains came in, smiling and waving to the two young vampires as always, trying to make friends and telling them they were going to be part of something great.

            Satsuki sighed and covered her face with her knees. “If you’re not going to let us out, just leave us alone,” she moaned.

            “KAI!” Mei suddenly exclaimed, and Satsuki looked up in surprise. Behind the two scientists was a filthy third person and for a second he might’ve been their older brother. After a second’s observation he wasn’t nearly tall or broad enough, but something underneath all that dirt looked familiar anyway.

            “It’s not your lucky night. You only get **me** ,” he said, but smiled.

            “ONII-SAN!” Mei wailed and pulled on the bars, but they’d been made to resist even a vampire’s inhuman strength. Satsuki protectively pulled her little sister back from the bars until he came closer, and she could see for herself.

            “Nigeki…is it really you?” she gasped, her throat suddenly dry.

            The door slid open and the two scientists backed away from their companion, who sank to his knees and held out his hands. The pair of girls screamed in relief and ran into his arms, tears dripping from their eyes as they wrapped themselves around their him and rubbed their faces against him as if he might disappear if they didn’t hold on tight enough. After a few minutes Satsuki wiped her eyes and managed to let go. Mei clung to his chest, and obligingly Nigeki held her close as he stood up.

            “You’re here to take us home, right?” Mei asked, as if still not believing what was happening.

            “Just a minute,” Reed interrupted. “I know this hasn’t been the most pleasant experiment, but please consider the good that can come out of this.”

            Nigeki whirled toward him, eyes flashing angrily. “ **GOOD?** ” he hissed through his fangs.

            Shelley replied, “We’re working on finding a cure for vampirism. It’s not pleasant but think about it for a minute, would you please? I know AGES didn’t bring them here under the most pleasant circumstances, but adult vampires would’ve been too powerful to contain. Once we can find a cure, there won’t be any need for your kind to hide, because people won’t need to fear you for your condition anymore.”

            “ **Condition?!?** ” Nigeki bellowed. The two scientists shrank back a step. Satsuki looked up at him in alarm but Mei was grinning into his chest. “ **We were born this way! So were OUR parents! And THEIR parents! AND THEIR PARENTS!!**...We don’t want your cure. Show us a way out. Now.”

 

XXX

 

            Without another word the two human scientists had revealed an exit to the street. Nigeki carried both of his sisters with him as he left the base behind, casting one withering glare over his shoulder at Reed and Shelley, who looked back with disappointment and, he hoped, a glimmer of shame.

            His sharp ears heard police sirens drawing closer…when he destroyed those robot guards he’d probably cut into the wall and shaken things up enough to do some damage on the surface. Good. If they found AGES’ base then Hood and whatever other psychos were down there would have to clear out.

            Nigeki slipped away into the shadows for what felt like the fiftieth time that night, though. His sisters had fallen asleep against him, but for twenty minutes he dodged through alleys and side streets, weaving back and forth across the small town until he felt sure he’d lost anything that might’ve followed them out of the AGES base.

            By the time he finally got to Daphne’s back door, Nigeki wasn’t exactly surprised to see Mizore sitting outside waiting for him. Her lovely face, smooth like ice, was impossible to read. He was sure she’d be mad at him for ditching her, but as he came up carrying two young girls against himself, she just nodded at him and opened the door to carry them inside and up to the room the Aoyamas were lending him.

            Nothing was said until after Nigeki tucked the two in and emerged in a clean shirt and shorts. Nigeki broke the silence with a sigh. “I’m sorry I left you behind when I went to find my sisters. I know you came along because you wanted to help,” he said, and grabbed Mizore’s wrist as she tried to slap him. “But I’m not sorry I kept an important friend of mine out of danger. And I never will be.”

            He let her go and she retreated a step. A second later she whispered, “…important?”

            “Of course you are. I need you working behind the scenes to help me be the best Phantom the school’s ever going to see,” he replied.

            “…is that all?”

            He smiled and ruffled her long lavender hair. “No.” Mizore smiled around her lollipop.

            “What else?” she asked a little expectantly.

            “We’ll have to find out when we get somewhere human terrorists aren’t trying to kill us,” was Nigeki’s answer. “But for now, I think we’ve all earned some sleep. Goodnight.”

            She tried to follow him into his bedroom and frowned in disappointment when he unwittingly closed the door on her. Nigeki barely had time to swallow his hypnocil pill to keep from dreaming and fall asleep on the floor, snuggled between his little sisters.

            What a night he’d had.

 

XXX

 

            It felt like he’d been floating for eternity. Finally, he had known peace.

            Again and again he’d risked his life to bring peace to others, fighting incredibly powerful foes every time. Hadn’t he earned peace for himself?

            But not long ago he’d felt something disturbing his rest…calling him back to the world of chaos. To the world of monsters.

            Gradually over what seemed like eternity it had seemed like he was being pulled along somewhere, but suddenly it felt as if he was caught in the current of a raging river of emerald-green water. He thrashed around and tried to breathe, knowing that for all his strength he was doomed if he couldn’t…

            Then the river was gone and he was standing inside of some of transparent tube. A bearded man in a dark suit stood outside, and smiled with relief as he opened his eyes and pressed his hands against the tube.

            “I’m sorry for bringing you back so suddenly,” the man in the dark suit said, his accent strange but his words understandable enough. “It would seem we’ve been compromised, unfortunately, and you are far, far too valuable to risk leaving behind, my friend.”

            “Who are you…?” he asked as the tube started to rise. As he tried to step out from under it he staggered. His body was strong, but nothing seemed to respond to his thoughts…it was if he was trying to use it for the first time.

“There’ll be time to explain that once we’re away. Welcome back to the land of the living, Simon.”


	4. Big Brother

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 15 – Big Brother**

 

            “Morning, everyone,” Ryosuke mumbled as he shuffled into the kitchen of his restaurant, wearing nothing but his boxers and his eyes seeming to stare right through the crowd at the breakfast table.

            Then he realized there was indeed a crowd at the breakfast table. “Erm, hello…sweetie, where did all these people come from?”

            “Good morning to you, sir!” Ruby said a little overenthusiastically.

            “Hi, mister!” Mei grinned as she shoveled food into her mouth while Satsuki watched disapprovingly.

            “Eat like a lady,” she chided her little sister. Mei glared at her, flecks of food all over her mouth then started chewing it with her mouth wide open.

            “Mei, **stop being a brat** ,” Nigeki interrupted. Mei looked up at him in alarm, then nodded and swallowed her food with a guilty look on her face. Takano came over with a pan of burnt blackened discs on it that looked like they’d probably been eggs. Nigeki and his sisters recoiled slightly from them, but Ruby grinned and slid one onto her plate.

            “I think they’re the people our new employees came to find, tou-san,” Takano replied with a smile, her silvery hair dancing.

            Ryosuke nodded, his eyes going bleary again and seeming unready to deal with this kind of chaos in his kitchen this early in the morning. “Oh,” he muttered. “All right. I need to go…shave.” And he turned around and walked back upstairs.

            Once he was gone Nigeki turned to Satsuki and gently ran his fingers through her short black hair. “Are you two okay?” he asked softly, not wanting to make them remember too much about what they’d just escaped from.

            She nodded gently and placed her hand on the back of his. “They didn’t hurt or abuse us, onii-san,” she replied. “Sometimes people came in who wanted to, but those humans wanted us not to be monsters anymore, so humans wouldn’t try to hurt us.”

            He growled faintly. “They have no right.”

            “I don’t know if they do,” Satsuki replied. “Right now, I just want to go home.”

            Nigeki nodded slowly. “I tried calling but I only got the butler. Dad and Kai are off exploring what they think is a Tear nest, and mom hasn’t come out of her room for a week…dad’s not even sleeping with her anymore. I couldn’t even get Mills. He’s working with some new consultant. Doctor Sands or somebody.”

            “At least they’re working on the project,” Satsuki replied, gently putting her hand on her brother’s arm reassuringly.

            Both of them looked over as Mei snatched one of the blackened eggs, but gently waved off the offer when Takano tried to offer Nigeki to take one too. “So, Hitoribo-san…now that you’ve found your family, will be you be leaving already?” Takano tried to ask gracefully.

            “I don’t really know. I didn’t think about it till just now but I have no idea how to call and tell them to get us since we’re done,” Nigeki replied with a sigh. “So we might be here for a little while…how’s the egg, Ruby?”

            The witch chewed hard on it and made an “Mmmm-MMMM!” noise, nodding, probably not wanting to seem like a bad guest. He looked down at Mei next, who grinned the widest grin he’d ever seen, blotches of black egg all over her teeth. Satsuki gasped in disgust at her sister, but Nigeki couldn’t help letting out a snort of amusement.

            Takano stood up then, walked over to a counter and wrote something down on a piece of paper, thought for a second, then wrote a bunch of other things down underneath it. “What’s that?” Nigeki asked as he leaned back in his chair.

            “Shopping list!” Takano beamed. “Since you’re staying for a little while, you can pick up a couple things we need,” she explained and waved the slip of paper at him.

            “You mean there’s more after all that stuff I got **last** night?” Nigeki asked, waving to the pile of vegetable crates and huge bags of rice piled in front of the back door. He hadn’t exactly had time to be graceful about stacking them.

            “That was from one supplier,” Takano clarified. “I can think of a few other things we’re running low on, like meat and a little fish, but these are things you can just pick up from the Junes downtown.”

            Mei grinned. “Is your girlfriend coming with us??” she asked and looked up at Ruby.

            “What???” the witch asked, color rushing to her cheeks.

            “She’s not my girlfriend,” Nigeki replied, trying to keep his patience. “We only met last night.”

            “ _I’m_ his girlfriend,” Mizore softly interjected.

            “ _Nobody_ is my girlfriend.”

            She ruffled his hair and smirked. “It’s cute how you get all embarrassed and can’t talk about it to anybody.”

            Nigeki gave her an exasperated look, but Mizore only made happy eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. Finally he stood up. “We can probably get all this and make it back before the lunch rush if we go now…what do you say, girls?”

            His sisters didn’t say anything. They just grabbed him by the wrists and dragged him out the back door.

 

XXX

 

            The truck tires squealed as Nigeki awkwardly took a hard turn. His family had never let him do anything remotely dangerous, like drive. Seeing him like this with his sisters in the cab of a truck he could barely control, his family would’ve lost their minds.

            Mei bounced up and down in her seat in excitement, her brown pigtails swaying with a rhythm of their own. Satsuki clung to her brother’s arm until they straightened out, then sighed in relief.

            “What? I’m not **that** bad, am I?” Nigeki joked.

            “No,” she said, but suddenly asked. “How’s mom doing? It’s been a while since…”

            He tickled under her chin for a second to keep her from finishing the sentence. But his face turned serious. “I don’t know, but it sounded like she wasn’t doing so good a while after you disappeared on that shopping trip. Now that you two are okay I should really call in and let everybody know you’re all right. Mom’s gonna be glad.”

            “Yeah,” Satsuki replied, and looked down at her feet.

            “Is everything all right?” Nigeki asked her. She just shook her head, so he changed the subject. “You getting any better on the violin?”

            “No,” Satsuki replied looking disappointed, then brightened up. “But I got a new tutor for the piano, and papa says I’m doing very well on that.”

            “She is!” Mei grinned.

            “Thank you, Mei,” Satsuki smiled gently. “Are you any better on the flute…?”

            “No, I still suck,” Nigeki replied. Mei giggled, and Satsuki smiled lightly herself.

            Mizore reached over the back of Nigeki’s seat and rubbed gently at his shoulders with her long, ice-cold fingers. “He’s getting to be a pretty good actor, though,” she said.

            “Yeah, after all the fights I got into, people won’t even have to come to our play to see how I scary I can be,” Nigeki frowned.

            “I meant the way you act like you stand those other girls who always try to hang around you,” she smirked and tweaked his ear. He sighed, but his sisters giggled. Instead he pulled into the lot of the enormous building with the red letters spelling JUNES on the roof, and circled it looking for a close place to park. It seemed like half the town was coming or going from the store, pushing carts or, in the case of a few unfortunate young men he spotted, carrying a stack of bags and boxes for their unencumbered girlfriends.

            Finally he managed to park and led the way into the gigantic supermarket taking up most of the first floor and unfolded the shopping list. “Okay we need some…mackerel, and beef strips and cucumbers? I **got** cucumbers last night. And some kind of deluxe curry…can you read this, Mizore?...Mizore?”

            He looked around through the crowd but she seemed to have disappeared along with his little sisters. For a second Nigeki started to panic, afraid that Hood or some other AGES killer had tracked them down, but then his eagle eyes spotted Mei running ahead of the other two, toward an escalator leading up to the “CLOTHING” department.

            Nigeki sighed, but couldn’t help smiling a bit. Wasn’t it just like a little sister?

 

XXX

 

**(Song: Dating Start!)**

 

            “ **Thank** you for shopping with us today at Junes!” the voice of an overly chirpy hostess rang out over the PA. “Prices on our new water-conserving appliances have been slashed by 15%! Our catering department is ready to serve at your next party or function! Remember…” she trailed over, then was joined by a chorus of chirpy singing voices, “ _Every day is great at your Junes!_ ”

            “I want this too!” Mei squealed as she hopped out of the changing room in a pink sun dress spangled with little yellow flowers and a straw hat on her head.

            Nigeki sighed inwardly. He agreed his sisters couldn’t go around in those dirty hospital gowns, but they weren’t supposed to be filling out their summer wardrobe either. “Girls, dad didn’t give me a lot of money for school…I was **at school** , it’s not something you need a lot of money for.”

            “Does that mean I can’t get this?” Satsuki said as she dragged him over to look at a small locket with a black stone carving of a bearded serpentine dragon under the jewelry counter. Nigeki looked at the price tag and grimaced.

            “Girls, I’m sure mom and dad’ll be happy to get you anything you want. But right now me and Mizore are supposed to be helping out at the restaurant so—”

            “OOOOOOOH! LOOK AT THIS!!” Mei interrupted and hauled him over to display of life-size dolls in pink boxes. A large sign over the artistically-arranged stack of dolls said “AMI-CHAN & MAMI-CHAN”.

            “Can I get these?” Mei pleaded.

            “Mei, we haven’t even paid for your new clothes yet!” Nigeki protested. “But all right. Which one do you want?”

            “Both!” replied Mei.

            “Mei, I don’t have that much money, like I just said.”

            “But they’re sisters! They have to be together!” Mei pouted up at him. “Right, Satsuki?”

            But Satsuki didn’t reply for a second, staring hard at a group of teen girls walking past, swinging their purses and smiling as they chatted or played around with their phones. “Oh, I don’t know,” she distantly replied. “Aren’t **you** supposed to be the big sister to her?”

            But Mei didn’t hear her. She was already darting away from Ami-chan and Mami-chan and over to where a pile of pink and blue plush bears had been set up for sale, and despite it being three times her size easily picked one up and started carrying it back, drawing stares to the tiny girl with unlikely strength and poise. “Buy me this,” she instructed Nigeki.

            “Put it back. We’ll buy your new clothes, get the food for Daphne and then we’ll see about toys,” Nigeki replied.

            “Toto-chan’s not a toy! He’s a **friend**!” Mei said with an indignant pout.

            “You already gave him a name?” Satsuki asked in playful disbelief.

            “I didn’t **give** him a name, **it’s his name** ,” Mei glared at her sister as if it was the stupidest question she’d ever been asked.

            Nigeki ignored their playful bantering and looked around. “Did anyone see where Mizore went?”

            “I went over there to get these,” she said as she popped up from behind a shelf, holding up a package of pink and purple knee socks like the ones she always wore. Nigeki gasped and jumped back in surprise.

            “Do you **always** have to do that?” he asked in exasperation.

            “Yes. Always,” she replied, then smirked. “Because you look so cute when I surprise you.”

            “Mei, put the bear back. Satsuki, get the tags off those clothes. Mizore, help me find the things we need for Daphne. **After** we get all that taken care of, maybe we’ll see about some toys.”

            “He’s a **friend**!” Mei insisted.

            Mizore smiled her faint smile as she followed the Hitoribos back downstairs.

 

XXX

 

            Mei stomped away from the checkout line, face clenched in rage even before the collection of change that represented the last of Nigeki’s personal finances hit his hand. She wouldn’t be taking Toto-chan home **and** get a new outfit, it seemed.

            As they left walked out into the parking lot, though, Mei stopped and looked over at a group of boys about her age standing around in front of a row of a gashapon machines holding small figurines, pretending to fight with them. Then she broke away and ran over to them.

            “Mei, wait, we need to get back—” Nigeki tried to protest, but saw that she was smiling excitedly at the things they were playing with.

            “Those are Wulars, right??” Mei exclaimed. The figures, shaped like an assortment of monsters, had a row of small buttons underneath an LED meter with an array of numbers. “You’ve got a Stormister and a Girafire, right?” Mei asked the first boy, who didn’t answer. Undaunted she turned to his opponent, “And that’s Volture and Blastag!!”

            “What are those?” Nigeki whispered to Satsuki.

            “Oh, they’re this toy that’s really popular,” she answered. “You point them at each other and push the buttons on the back pretend to have them fight. You have to buy them from those machines, so the ones you get are random.”

            “I see,” Nigeki replied. “They show the commercials for those in _Magical Detective Loveline_ , I bet.”

            “You actually remember the name of that show?” Satsuki chortled.

            “It’s the only thing Mei would watch…and I remember **you** gasping when she got cornered by a bad guy more than once,” Nigeki reminded her with a teasing smirk.

            Satsuki blushed and looked away from him. “I did not! Besides, that show’s for little kids. _The Pink Princess: Warrior—_ ” She started to reply, but a joyous cry cut the air. A boy was running from the machines over to where the little gathering stood, holding a toy dragon over his head. It was covered with blue and purple scales with two heads on long necks reaching out from its body and wide, majestic wings.

            “Look! Look!! A Brayjan Dragon! I really got one!” The boys crowded around to look at their friend’s new find. Mei tried to get a look too, then a second later ran back to where Nigeki and the others waited.

            “Can I have some money to get some Wulars too??” she asked hopefully.

Nigeki pulled out the clutch of change and walked over to the machines with her. He filled the coin slots and twisted the knob, sending a capsule rolling out of the machine into Mei’s waiting hands.

There was enough for one more, so he fed the machine and again a capsule thundered down the chute and into Mei’s hands. She opened them up, revealing figurines of a turtle with ice spikes down the back of its shell, and a purple cat with a butterfly net attached to the end of its tail. Clutching her prizes she ran over to the group of boys and said something, probably asking if she could join in. The boys took one look at her figurines, and burst out laughing.

“Are you kidding?” one of them jeered. “Tortoice is too slow to do anything, and Catrap’s the weakest one ever! You’d lose in ten seconds! Those ones SUCK!”

“Oh YEAH?!” Mei yelled back. “These are presents from my big brother! And I’m gonna get really good and I’m gonna win even with these two! So nyah!” She stuck out her tongue and pulled down one eyelid, then ran back to Nigeki. “Let’s go. Boys are stupid.”

  
XXX

 

            His sisters had already jumped out of the truck before Nigeki had pulled to a stop. Mei was still wearing the gigantic grin she’d had the whole ride back as she ran inside clutching her precious new Wulars. “You have to help me practice, onee-chan!” she commanded Satsuki, not looking up from the instructions that had come with her new prizes. “What does this mean?” she asked, pointing at one part.

            It was 11:33 already and Nigeki had gone as fast as he’d dared on the way back. He was afraid of catching hell from his new boss, especially when he saw people pushing to get in the door. But then he noticed a lot of them seemed to be carrying bouquets…

            “What in the hell’s going on in there?”

            While his sisters retreated upstairs and Mizore went to change into her uniform for the lunch rush that had started without them, Nigeki put the food they’d bought into the fridge and then leaned out the door to the kitchen to see just what was going on out in the dining area.

            The room was packed, with every seat occupied and a crowd of young men carrying flowers gathered in the center of the room. Takano walked around the room taking orders and politely ignoring the chaos in the center of the room.

            But Nigeki pushed his way through the crowd enough to see what it was, and wasn’t surprised at what he found. There stood Ruby Toujo, the pretty young witch he’d agreed to take with him back to Youkai Academy, wearing one of the restaurant’s gothic waitress uniforms and a slightly overwhelmed expression as the men surrounding her tried to push their floral offerings into her hands and bombarded with questions about her preference in men and her schedule after work. A few were even brandishing engagement rings.

            “Shouldn’t we do something?” Nigeki asked his boss as Ryosuke got to work with a grin on his face that could’ve sliced the vegetables itself.

            “Yeah!” he grinned. “Tell them she isn’t allowed to flirt on duty, and the one who orders the most expensive meal gets to talk to her first after her shift!”

            “That’s not what I meant,” Nigeki said as a huge sweatdrop formed on the back of his head.

 

XXX

 

            Ruby heaved a sigh of relief as the last diner finally walked out of the restaurant and Nigeki deftly locked it behind him and flipped the window sign to “CLOSED”.

            Without even waiting she unzipped her uniform down the back to her waist and sighed again. “Ugh…this thing is so tight,” she murmured. She turned and walked out of the dining room to change, oblivious to flashing the back of her pink lace bra at a beet-red Nigeki as she did.

            She went up to the room she shared with the other girls and changed back into her own clothing, the pink and black dress. Then she climbed out of the window up onto the roof. Once she was there, she finally felt herself relaxing.

            Wither her dying breath, the mistress had said she wanted Ruby to see the world beyond Witch’s Knoll. To know more than hatred toward humankind. Today they’d been extremely welcoming. **Too** welcoming after a lifetime spent hiding from them, distrusting them. It had been overwhelming. But up here, she could breathe. She could maybe even start to look forward to going wherever the vampire boy was going back to next, as long as she wasn’t attacked by the men there.

            “Toujo-san? Is everything all right?” someone asked suddenly. Ruby jumped, then looked down to see Takano looking out the window over at her.

            “I’m fine,” Ruby replied, sending a wave back. “I just feel so confined inside right now. I think I might…fly. If I still can.”

            “Oh? Do you think you’d like some company? If I still can, that is,” Takano smiled.

            Ruby regarded her curiously, but then concentrated on her magic from the first time since her wand had been destroyed, and to her relief her wings sprang from her back. Takano stood beside her, glowing softly. Then her ears doubled in length suddenly like when she’d used her powers before, but this time long fairy wings formed and split gently from her back too.

            Slowly, cautiously Ruby took to the air and looked over her shoulder to see Takano easily keeping up with her and trailing golden dust into the air. If it happened to land on open dirt, Ruby swore she saw grass or plants starting to grow.

            “What are you?” Ruby asked, slightly in.

            She just smiled. “I’m Takano.”

            “But…what kind of youkai are you?” Ruby persisted.

            “Why does it matter?” Takano playfully continued to deflect the question. “That answer’s good enough for me, and my dad, and for Koji.”

            Ruby just flew on for a minute more, thinking on that. Takano flew by her side in silence for a minute before she asked, “Does it matter that people know you’re a witch?”

            “I studied hard to cultivate my powers! It’s not something you’re born with, it’s something you learn!” Ruby replied defensively.

            “And is someone what they are because of what they’re born with, or what they choose to do with it?” Takano asked her. Ruby hovering staring at her from that response. Takano turned around made her way back to Daphne.

 

XXX

 

            Another three days slipped by with no word from home or even from school. Thankfully not from AGES either, though. Mei and Satsuki had been busy enough learning to play Wulars together, and Ruby had been busy enough dodging marriage proposals while trying to help out in the front room.

            On that morning Nigeki’s eyes flicked open suddenly as he was sure he heard the door click shut. There was a faint rustling as something slithered under the bed. His hunting instincts were starting to prick up when he noticed the ever so slight drop in temperature in the room.

            “Come out, Mizore,” he sighed. A second later her face poked out from under the bed.

            “Hi. You’re getting good.”

            “Come out from there and don’t wake up the girls,” Nigeki replied. With a consummate grace Mizore did slide out from under the bed and vaulted to her feet, and Nigeki doubted it was an accident her skirt billowed out as she did. “Is everything all right? Why’d you sneak in here?”

            “You’ve been spending all your time with your sisters lately,” she whispered as she seemed to glide forward and popped her omnipresent lollipop out of her mouth. “We’ve been here with none of those annoying other girls you put up with this whole time, and we still haven’t done anything,” she whispered huskily and draped her arms around his neck. He swallowed as she loomed in.

            “Mizore, I don’t know if I’m ready for this…remember what happens to the Tear when I get worked up?”

            She just chuckled. “I’m not worried. You’re not going to hurt me.”

            “That isn’t **me** ,” Nigeki protested.

            “I know,” she whispered, then pursed her lips…

            Then Nigeki slipped on the carpet and flailed for something to stop his fall. The thing he grabbed was round, warm and soft, and made Mizore’s face turn pink as she collapsed on top of him.

            “I knew it,” she purred into his ear and stroked his cheek with trembling fingers.

            “It was an accident!” Nigeki protested, but before things could progress any farther suddenly someone screamed loud enough Nigeki could see birds taking off in fright from the tree outside the window. A second later there was a knock like a machine gun on the door.

            “Come in!” Nigeki called. Mizore grunted in annoyance and flexed her fingers at the door, forming a sheet of ice over the knob that started to stretch toward the doorframe too, but before it could reach all the way Takano flung the door open, grinning like made and still clutching the receiver to a cordless phone. “Good news?” Nigeki asked while Mizore glared icy daggers at her.

            “Koji just called! He’s going to be back this afternoon! It’s **wonderful**!” Takano replied, not noticing at all. “Oh…and a strange man with a cigar is outside asking if you need a ride yet.”

            “What?” Nigeki pulled away from Mizore and leaned out the window, spotting the Youkai Academy school bus. The driver was leaning against the side puffing lightly on a cigar, eyes glowing under the brim of his cap. He glanced up and smiled, tipping his cigar at Nigeki in a mock salute.

            Mei sat up on the bed, yawning and knuckling the sleep out of her eyes. She still clutched her Tortoice figure, determined to become one with it in battle. “What’s wrong?” she said through a yawn.

            “Nothing’s wrong,” Nigeki answered. “But I think it’s time for us to go.”

            “Call us when you get where you need to go…all right?” Takano asked, her face falling.

“Where are we going?” Mizore asked, resigned to her attempt having failed. “Back to school already?”

            “No,” Nigeki asked, looking down at his little sister. “We’re going home.”

 

XXX

 

            **Hey. Sorry if these last two chapters seemed kind of short. They were originally one big chapter, but I broke it up when I thought about how the change in mood was a little too drastic with nothing to break things up.**

**Sorry to anybody who’s disappointed by the lack of action in this chapter, but sometimes I want to take some time to have some interplay between the differebt characters. There’s a bunch already, and I want to take the time to make the things developing between them meaningful too. Sorry if this means sometimes we don’t see somebody’s favorite character for a while, or go a chapter without any fights, but if the character’s time in the spotlight is more meaningful, I think it’s probably worth it in the long run.**

**Also, for what it’s worth the people at the restaurant aren’t OC’s. They were tweaked just a bit from the source material.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Sacred Gear

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 16 – Sacred Gear**

 

            It had been a long time since they’d lost sight of Takano and Ryosuke waving goodbye out of the rear window of the bus. The monster entourage had split up, Nigeki sitting near the front and looking through his schoolbooks, trying to do something to catch up on the material he’d missed while he was gone. Mei and Satsuki had taken the seat behind him and were playing with Mei’s new game, the Wulars.

            Mizore took the seat across the aisle from Nigeki, keeping silent but shooting him the occasional knowing smile. Ruby Toujo, the witch they’d picked up during their little adventure was there too. She sat all the way in the back, staring at the window in silence.

            After a while Nigeki called out to the driver, “Are you sure you don’t need us to tell you where to go?”

            The driver shook the ashes off his cigar out the window. “I drive, kid. It’s what I do. You just worry about what **you** do.”

            “And what’s that supposed to be?”

            “Hell if I know…don’t you?” the driver smirked.

            Nigeki gave him a probing look but the driver just tweaked his rearview mirror so he couldn’t see the young vampire in it anymore, and Nigeki settled back in with his book. He found it hard to focus, and after a while of trying, he realized why.

            When he’d been away at Youkai Academy he’d been learning in an actual class, studying alongside other teenage monsters who were enjoying their freedom and just as unsure what to do with it as he was. A place where he’d been among friends.

            But now he was going home. His real home, although that didn’t sound like the right word anymore. There, when he studied he was with one tutor or another, kept carefully occupied as far away from the rest of the family as possible. Especially from his mother, who’d apparently gotten even more disturbed since his sisters had been captured by AGES. Would this help her recover? And would she even be grateful to him if she did?

            All at once he noticed the bus suddenly picking up speed, and the sky turned into an umbrella of crazed shifting colors. Ruby gasped in surprise and Mei and Satsuki looked up as she did. Nigeki and Mizore stayed quiet, as they recognized what was going on from their trips to and from school.

            They were passing through the borders of Makai Realm, the world of monsters.

            When the sky cleared it was no longer blue, but a faint orange. The bus was driving down a cobbled road surrounded by towering trees, but even through them the roof and the spear-like towers of an exquisite mansion could be seen.

            Mei and Satsuki gasped in excitement and pressed their faces  against the glass of the window. Nigeki swore he heard the driver let out a “heh,” but he ignored it and got up to slip his arms around his sisters. “We’re almost home, girls,” he said.

            A few minutes later the bus stopped outside the wrought-iron gate of the stone wall surrounding the mansion. The driver flung the door open and turned back to the passengers, his cigar sticking out of one side of his smile. “Didn’t I tell you I could find the place?”

            “Thanks,” Nigeki said simply. The Hitoribos and Mizore gathered up their things and got off, but Ruby stayed in her seat.

            “Aren’t you coming with us?” Mei asked.

            The witch sighed and shook her head. “No. I’d just get in the way if I were around when you meet your family again. I think I’ll be going on to this school of yours…see what it’s like.”

            “Awww,” Mei groaned. “Be our friend on Frightbook, okay, Ruby??”

            “As soon someone shows me what that is,” the witch replied with a tired smile. “We’ll meet again,” she said to Nigeki. Then the bus door closed, and pulled away.

 

XXX

 

            Moka Akashiya peeled the shirt of her PE uniform off her smooth, glistening skin and set it aside with the rest before she stepped into the shower room with the rest of the girls in her class, taking one of the stalls for students who could only bathe safely in purified water.

            She was a little surprised to see the bright blue hair of Kurumu Kurono in the stall next to her. They belonged to the same school club but weren’t exactly close for reasons that were no mystery, especially after being split onto different teams for the soccer game in class.

            So she was more than a little surprised when Kurumu looked over and said, “Hey, that was a pretty good game.”

            “Um, thank you,” Moka replied. Struggling for something to say in reply, she asked, “Are…things okay with your mom? Does she still—”

            “Does she still ask if I found my soulmate yet?” Kurumu asked with a dry laugh. “Sometimes. It doesn’t really bother me as much now.”

            “Oh?” Moka asked, a little unsettled by the implication that something had happened to make Kurumu less worried about her mother probing into her love life.

            The succubus just smiled to herself and started to rub her ample chest with soap. “Yeah…so how’s that story of yours about the new Security Committee coming?”  
            “It isn’t,” Moka frowned. “The new chief won’t even talk to me. She just asks if I’m there to join, and when I say no she asks if there’s a problem she needs to deal with, then when I say no to that she just closes the door.”

            She squeaked in alarm suddenly as something warm and wet rubbed down her back, and turned around to see a slight figure rubbing a handful of suds against her side while holding a tube of liquid soap in her other hand, which slid up to cup the side of her of breast. “Moka-sama…you’re so beautiful,” gushed a blushing Yukari Sendou, the witch prodigy who’d become smitten with her. “May I please wash your back?” she asked, the air around her face seeming to fill with sparkles. Before Moka could give an answer, the tube of soap slipped out of her hand. Yukari walked away to pick it up, and Moka sighed lightly to herself.

            She tried to remind herself that she was finally out on her after coming to Youkai Academy, and should be enjoying having some freedom and the friends she was making here. Like Yukari, and to an extent even Kurumu. But somehow the campus had seemed empty since the first friend she’d made had left on an errand from the Headmaster. Was he all right? When would he be back? And why had Kurumu acted like she knew more than Moka did…?

            “Clean?” asked a high-pitched voice from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

            “…what? Oh, all right, Yukari. If it’s that important,” Moka said distantly. There was a squeal of delight and she heard Yukari bouncing from one foot to the other on the wet floor. Then a stream of soapy water suddenly whipped down Moka’s back, making her jump and squeal in surprise. “Yukari, that’s not—” Moka started to protest, but as she turned around she saw it wasn’t Yukari.

            It was a small monster that looked like a turtle with four stubby legs and a round head, but its body looked like a small bathtub, complete with frothing water and a yellow rubber duck inside a glass bubble over its back. Its tail spun like a crank as it spewed another stream of water at her, but Moka screamed and dodged out of the way. A second later the intruder found the eyes of every girl in the class on it.

            “Clean?” it asked timidly.

            Then, predictably, all hell broke loose.

           

XXX

 

            The gate of the Hitoribo estate opened and Nigeki led his small procession up the drive. As they neared the main house they spotted a pair of men crossing the property from a corner behind some trees. Both wore dark pants, turtlenecks, thick boots and backpacks, like they’d been trekking recently. They were talking to each other and didn’t see Nigeki and the others until he called out to them.

            One of them was older with a thick beard, once black but flecks of silver could be seen throughout it now. His walk had been slow and his feet dragged, with his eyelids seeming to hang lower from exhaustion. The other man was much younger, in his early twenties. He was sharp-eyed and walking with a powerful stride. His dark hair had a white streak across the front that hung raggedly across one side of his face, that almost could’ve been Nigeki’s.

            And he scowled as he recognized Nigeki. His expression only softened a little as he saw who else was with him.

            “PAPA!” Mei and Satsuki dashed over to the bearded man, who sank to his knees and wrapped the girls up in his arms. The younger man looked down at them for a second before turning his harsh gaze back on Nigeki.

            “Did you get kicked out of school already, **little brother**?” he asked acidly.

            “Nice to see you missed me too, Kai,” Nigeki replied. “Not like I’m here to bring anybody home…”

            Kai ignored the remark and turned to Mizore. “Welcome to our home. May I ask who you might be, my lovely lady?”

            “I’m his wife,” she replied, deadpan as usual.

            “…What??”

            Nigeki gave her a look of exasperation. “ **No** , Mizore.”

            “Break it up, you two!” their father interrupted as he got to his feet. “Like it or not, the two of you are family! **Act like it** ,” he barked, but then his face softened. “Nigeki, why didn’t you tell us you found the girls??”

            “I **tried** , tou-san, but the butler said you and Kai were investing Tears, and Mills was working on something with a new consultant you brought in,” Nigeki protested.

            “Never mind,” his father waved it off. “Go inside and let your mother now the girls are back safe. Kai, find a place for Nigeki’s friend to stay while they’re here.” Kai looked at his father and then back over his shoulder at Nigeki and Mizore. “ **Now** , young man,” his father glowered.

            Kai walked up to the front door and with a last look over her shoulder, Mizore followed him. Nigeki walked to his father and whispered, “Tou-san, are you sure it’s a good idea having me be the one?”

            “Maybe things between you two can finally start to heal if she hears you were the one who brought back the girls,” his father replied and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Go on, son. It’s about time we tried to put this to rest.”

 

XXX

 

            Mei was trying to get Satsuki to play another round of Wulars with her as Nigeki took them through the halls, passing the serving staff but also numerous people carrying pieces of machinery or stacks of charts and reports, all part of his father’s project to study the Tears, monsters who were a mystery even to monsters. He wondered if one of them was the Doctor Sands that his other brother was collaborating with…

            As they walked along Nigeki found himself walking more slowly, and he already knew why. Since the moment he’d left the womb, his mother had seen him as an abomination. She’d supported her husband’s decision to hunt down the Tears, seeing them as the greatest threat to their world. Most of the time, Nigeki’s father had said, it seemed like she’d blocked the memory of his existence whenever he wasn’t around.

            Well, maybe his father was right. Maybe finding his little sisters would help heal things between him and his mother. He took a hard breath to steel himself before he pushed open the double doors of their mother’s bedroom.

            Light barely seeped through a pair of gauzy curtains outlining a window in the far wall. Laying in a regal bed with ice-white silk sheets was a pale woman whose blonde hair lay arrayed around her body like a sunburst. It was Amelia Hitoribo, their mother.

            “Girls, go on,” Nigeki gently urged them while he hung back. They looked up at him uncertainly for a second, then walked over to the side of the bed.

            “Kaa-san?” Satsuki asked. “Are you okay? We’re home…we’re all right!”

            Gently Amelia lifted a thin hand and waved at them dismissively. “Go away. You’re not real,” she breathed. “None of you are ever real…but I keep letting my hopes rise…again and again…again…again…” she went on, tears starting to pool in the corners of her eyes.

            Mei suddenly grabbed her hand and licked from wrist to fingertip. Her mother gasped and pulled it away, sitting up suddenly and staring at the girls beside her bed. Then the tears that had been growing slid down her cheeks leaving glistening trails on her pale skin behind them. “Girls…?” she asked, afraid of letting her hopes be crushed again.

            They climbed in bed next to her, grinning and laughing and clutching at their mother’s arms. Amelia let out a sob that seemed to hang in the air for minutes on end as she gathered up her daughters and held them close against her, hardly daring to believe that this time it was real. Nigeki watched silently from the doorway, wondering if he’d even been noticed but not wanting to push her with his presence. At least not yet.

            After a few minutes Amelia calmed down enough to speak. “Where…where have you two been??”

            “Some humans took us!” Mei blurted out, and Amelia gasped.

            “What she means is…they distracted the governess,” Satsuki interrupted. “They took us to this place, but we got away a few days ago.”

            “Nigeki got me these!” Mei beamed and held up her new and already scuffed Wular toys. “Aren’t they great?!”

            “Nigeki,” their mother replied in a hollow voice. He cringed, sure of what came next. She slowly shifted her gaze to the door and the figure standing there. She gasped in horror and recoiled back to the edge of her bed, holding her daughters close against her.

            “Hello, kaa-san,” he said softly, but while bracing himself.

            “I’M NOT YOUR MOTHER!” she shrieked at him, shaking the glass in the windows. “YOUR MOTHER’S THAT FILTHY THING THAT ATTACKED ME…POISONED ME!!”

            “He saved us, mama!” Mei protested.

            “No, he didn’t!” Amelia wailed and huddled her daughters against her. “He’s one of them! He’ll kill us! He’ll destroy everything!”

            He turned and walked off down the hall, wondering why he’d let himself get his hopes up.

 

XXX

 

            Nigeki wandered down the halls listlessly, looking down at all the familiar pictures, doors, decorations. He remembered every inch from when he was a child and staying out of his parents’ way. But now it all seemed so strange and foreign, like a house he’d never even seen before.

            What was going on? He’d lived his entire life here.

            Hadn’t he?

            He’d grown up in this house. Being ostracized by his older brother and even his own mother, where his father tried to respect him but was usually too busy running the household or as time passed studying the Tears to be available to him. Where he had to be kept safely out of the way and avoid exposure to any and all negative emotions to keep the Tear within him from growing stronger.

The door to his room creaked open. Obviously they hadn’t bothered to keep it oiled while he was gone, but who would blame them? Inside were bare walls, no pictures or posters or shelves with trophies. There was a low bookshelf by the wall full of nondescript books he’d read but never enjoyed. Dry classics his parents…or rather, his father had gotten him without knowing what his interests were. But then, Nigeki had never really had a chance to know what his interests were either, having to keep a distance from everyone.

Then they’d given him the chance to leave the house, because it had finally become too much of an ordeal to keep him at home. And he’d made friends, gotten himself involved in activities and even danger. But for the first time, he’d truly been able to live.

He checked the time. Well into the afternoon. Classes would be out at Yuokai Academy. With a trembling hand, he hit Toriel’s contact on his phone.

            “Hello?” her voice came. It sounded so gentle. Patient. Not pressuring or judging.

            “Hello, Toriel?” he said, his voice suddenly dry. “It’s Nigeki. The vampire. With the belt,” he went on, mentally kicking himself for sounding so clueless.

            “Oh!” she replied with a gasp of pleasant surprise. “Hello, child! It’s good to hear from you! We’d all been getting a little worried if you were all right.”

            “Really?”

            “Oh yes!” she went on. “I’m a little surprised you’re calling me and not your classmates to let them know everything’s fine. Moka came by this afternoon to ask if I’d heard anything from you. I guess now I have.”

            Nigeki sighed away from the phone at the question before he answered. “I don’t really want to tell anybody about what I did while I was gone. I just called because…because I met my mother again, and she was angry with me. Really needed to hear a friendly voice for a minute.”

            “Oh my,” Toriel replied.

            He sighed again. “Yeah,” Nigeki said. “I know it’s kind of pathetic to ask—”

            “You wanted to hear… **my** voice? Is that reassuring to you, child?” Toriel cut him off suddenly, a slight giggle to her tone making him think she was blushing at the suggestion.

            “Well, I…I! Erm, I…,” Nigeki stammered, realizing he was blushing furiously himself, flustered by the beautiful teacher being flattered by him.

            “Would you like to hear a joke, child?” Toriel asked suddenly.

            “…what?”

            She cleared her throat. “What do monsters use to stay cool in summer?”

            “I don’t know…” Nigeki answered, feeling slightly dazed.

            “The **scare** conditioner!” Toriel finished with glee. The punchline just hung in the air between their phones for a second, silence reigning. Then Nigeki found himself chuckling faintly at the absurd joke, and after Toriel heard it she started to chuckle back in relief. Nigeki laughed louder, the warmth of Toriel’s laugh pouring into him and erasing the sting of his mother’s rejection. Toriel laughed louder too, sounding so joyous. So free.

            After a minute they both died down, and Nigeki managed to say, “That sounds kind of racist, honestly.”

            “Oh, child!” Toriel laughed again. “It was just a silly joke! How are you going to make it through life if you can never let go and laugh a little?”

            After a second he supposed he had to admit it was true. Here, in his supposed home, he’d spent years hidden away from anything that might’ve had a negative effect on him. But also kept away from anything that could’ve had a positive effect, like friends and games. His family had their reasons for it, he understood that. But it was only after they realized his condition was just getting worse confining him to the grounds and sent him off to school in exasperation that he’d made a group of friends and started to really life for the first time.

            He had to get back to school. **Soon.**   

            He had to get back to her.

            Then he stopped himself. No. He had to get back to **all of them.**

 

XXX

 

            The lavender-haired girl was unnervingly stoic as Kai led the way to the house’s guest wing. “You know,” he ventured, just to try and break the silence, “My father went to visit Nigeki’s school a while ago…he heard about how my little brother had lost control again and turned into Tear, but not that he’d gotten married.”

            “We’re just waiting for him to get me a ring,” Mizore replied evenly.

            Kai looked over his shoulder at her for a long minute and gave her an incredulous look that didn’t faze her at all. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” he finally asked. “You want that from him, knowing what he’s really like? What—”

            “That’s not what he’s really like,” Mizore interrupted, but her tone didn’t change at all.

            “Regardless, you’ve seen he’s a monster even to monsters,” Kai pressed. “How could you stand to be around him, knowing what he could become if he lost control?”

            “Because he won’t,” Mizore replied as evenly as before. “I won’t let him.”

            “Here we are,” Kai replied and opened the door to a bedroom she could’ve fit three of her room from back at school inside. “Feel free to freshen up, Shirayuki-san,” Kai offered. “You will be notified when supper is ready.”

            Kai left without another word. There were far more serious things on his mind than his little brother finding a gullible, if pretty, girl.

            He and his father had been returning from an expedition to a Tear nest when Nigeki had returned…seen the horrible place full of pods where those demonic, formless things were growing even greater and more fearsome. Now that they’d finally found a place where they could capture a specimen or two for study, it was all the more important to move quickly to find a way to stop these things.

            Before another innocent woman could be attacked and give birth to a tainted child like Nigeki Hitoribo.

            Kai flung open the doors to his own room and then closed them behind him again with a slam. He fell onto the bed and let out a long, hollow sigh. Where did these horrific creatures come from? Why were they so dedicated to bringing absolute ruin to everything and everyone around them? And perhaps most worryingly, how could they be defeated?

            “Yeaaaargh!” a voice split the air as suddenly a blazing red bolt fell through the air straight toward him. Kai tensed and grabbed his attacker’s shoulders as he felt their slender arms slipping around his torso and long nails raking against his back…

            “Admit it, I scared you!” giggled a familiar voice, and Kai fell back into his bed with an irritated sigh. That only got another giggle out of his attacker.

            “The last thing I need is scares, Akari,” Kai grunted, but the beautiful girl above him only smiled.

            “There’s good scares and bad scares, Kai,” she said, brushing the bright red hair that was the only thing he’d seen when she was pouncing on him out of her porcelain features. “And you’re going to have to get used to that idea if you’re still dedicated to making some poor innocent girl your bride…”

            He reached up and stroked the girl’s cheeks, sighing and finally managing a smile. “I’m sorry, my love. You must know we’re grateful to all the help the Kuchihige clan is providing, and I don’t just mean having the most beautiful vampire in the world among them,” he said, and she beamed. “I’m glad to see you even if this is a surprise. I just saw such terrible creatures when I went scouting with father today, and I was reminded of how much they’ve traumatized mother. It doesn’t help that my little brother showed up without announcing himself…”

            Akari gave him a puzzled look. “Why should Mills need to announce himself? And where did he go?”

            “No, not Mills. My **other** brother. The one who traumatized mother.”

            “You never told me you had two brothers!” Akari exclaimed.

            “I **don’t** ,” Kai grunted, but Akari got up and headed for the door. “…where are you going?”

            “Where do you think? I’m joining this family before too long, I’m going to meet my in-laws,” Akari replied.

            Kai lurched up. “Wait!” he called, but she didn’t. In another second Akari had already opened the doors and walked out.

 

XXX

 

            The war room his father had built onto the back of the house was full of technicians going over readouts at bright screens or rushing back and forth, sending messages and the latest findings to the few allies they’d managed to gather in finding the secrets of the Tears.

            And of course in the middle of it all, talking to an aide who then hurried off, was Takeshi Hitoribo, master of the house. He’d only just gotten home from the field and already he was back at work?

            “Shouldn’t you be taking a break?” Nigeki asked, and his father actually jerked in surprise and twisted around to face the interloper, fangs bared.

            “Oh, Nigeki...I wasn’t expecting to see you in here,” he collected himself. “Besides, I can’t rest now. We’re on the verge of a major breakthrough. And seeing you here again has reminded me of how important this project is.”

            Nigeki bristled lightly. “And what does that mean? So you don’t let anyone else end up like me? Part Tear?”

            “Don’t let Kai get to you,” Takeshi said, trying to defuse his son’s anger. “He may be rough on you but he’s as dedicated to saving everyone from the Tears as we all are.”

            “It wasn’t just Kai. Mom isn’t any better, even after I brought back the girls.”

            Takeshi sighed and nodded, probably having suspected it himself. “This is an ordeal, son. But for the good of  the world, we need to see it through to the end. Then we can patch up things between the family.

            “Oh, by the way,” he went on, “we’ve been working with a new consultant, and he’s got something to share with you.”

            Nigeki squinted at his father. “Consultant? Where is he?”

            “Right here. Silent but deadly,” said a voice from right behind him and Nigeki whipped around to see a bald man whose head barely came above Nigeki’s waist, standing inches away from him. A broad grin was plastered on his plump face that only seemed to broaden even more when Nigeki literally jumped in surprise and twisted around to face him.

            Takeshi walked to his son’s side, looking to be smiling lightly within his beard. “Nigeki, this is Doctor Sands. He’s provided some extremely advanced insights on energy fields and how they might be able to weaken the Tears. We just need to get our hands on one for study. But he has something special just for you, from Mikogami…I mean, from your Headmaster.”

            “And what’s that?” Nigeki asked, a little guardedly. Something about the little man, whose grin was still pasted to his chubby face, made him uneasy.

Before Sands got the chance to reply, a tired-looking aide walked up to him. “I’m sorry, Doctor, but those findings we went over…where should I drop them off again?”

Sands pointed over to the team at one bank of computers and said, “I told you before. Now, **Gobi** useful over there.” He turned to Nigeki. “Come on, kid, we’ve got a lot to do. Let’s get going and get out of your dad’s **Sahara**.”

“…was that a pun?” Nigeki asked, another huge sweatdrop forming on his head.

“A pun??” Sands asked. “I’m **scirocco’d** you could accuse me of such a thing!” His grin didn’t fade as he went on, “That one too intellectual?”

“Go with him, Nigeki. His wit’s one thing, but his knowledge is quite another. I’d tell you more, but Mills wants to be the one to explain this to you,” Takeshi said, and at the mention of his other brother’s name, Nigeki turned and followed after Sands, in spite of the man’s horrible puns.

 

XXX

 

Sands walked briskly back to the main house and then took the wide staircase that led down to the converted cellar space where Nigeki’s other brother kept a workshop. Nigeki usually hadn’t been allowed down there in the past, if only to make sure he didn’t change to the Tear and destroy some delicate work. It seemed like something pretty major must’ve been going on for that to change…

“So the Headmaster sent you to meet me, and give me this thing?” Nigeki asked, hoping to pry a little more information about who the strange little man was.

“Sure!” Sands said. “Can’t you tell?”

“I just thought he would’ve let me know, since he sent me out here anyway.”

Sands snorted in amusement. “You know those mystical mentors. Couldn’t give you a straight answer if they had a gun stuck to their head. How are you supposed to save the world if you know what to expect, right?”

“I guess,” Nigeki said, no idea how to reply to that.

The vault door that usually kept the space enclosed was actually sitting open and Sands walked right through. Beyond, the room was almost the size of an airplane hangar, with a large hydraulic lift that went up through a door in the ceiling to take the large machinery Mills usually helped to build up to ground level. There were no traces of machines there now, though. Instead there was only a large white circle that’d been painted out in the middle of the floor with four columns of black stone around it. Veins of silvery ore ran through them, and atop each was a ring of gold.

“ **There** you two lazy-asses are!” called a teasing voice, and striding toward them came a tall, smiling man with sandy blond hair.

Mills Hitoribo had inherited a lot of his looks from their English mother, if not, thankfully, her complete disregard for the youngest of her sons. Still, as he always did, Nigeki winced as he saw the small stub of flesh that was all that was left of his one ear after Kai had struck him during a time Mills had come to Nigeki’s defense during a family quarrel that had gotten ugly.

“Hi, Mills. Dad says you’ve got a big secret to show me,” Nigeki said and extended his hand. Mills reached out to shake it, then suddenly whipped his hand away and spun around, lightly slapping Nigeki between the shoulders. “You always fall for that! You haven’t changed a bit little brother…but from what I hear, you somehow changed completely, too.”

“Running away from my problems wasn’t working,” Nigeki shrugged.

“No, I guess it doesn’t,” Mills replied.

“No, it really doesn’t, does it?” Doctor Sands agreed, looking over his shoulder at the two of them. To Nigeki’s surprise the grin on his face had sank into a mild frown as if he was remembering something, but when he saw the two vampires’ eyes on him it returned. “Tell him about the thing, Mills. I’m gonna start setting up.”

“Right!” Mills smiled and clapped his hands. “Doctor Sands told me about a theory he had, we talked it over and we’ve found a way to power up the Bloodstone.” Nigeki looked at him with confusion, and Mills explained. “It’s called a Sacred Gear. It’s like a divine artifact that’s part of your being. Your soul, even.”

Nigeki cringed. “I don’t know if I like ‘divine’,” he said, since a vampire like himself could be totally floored by a cup of water, never mind a religious object in the hands of a true believer.

“Joining Nexus is not dangerous! I looked it over fifty times!” Mills assured his brother. “In fact by itself it has little power. **But** , it **can** make Bloodstone stronger than ever and give you even more control, because it can add other people’s power to yours.”

“…how?” Nigeki asked, unsure of how to react to that. It felt like there were enough beings who took turns seizing control of his body already.

Mills replied by walking over to one of the columns surrounding the circle and picked up a small round object made of the same black stone. “This is a beacon for the Sacred Gear. If held by someone who’s given their heart to you, it will let them join with you into a composite being who possesses the capabilities of both, and at the same time more.”

“Joining Nexus, huh?” Nigeki repeated the name, thinking mainly on how it could give him more control over himself when he was using the Bloodstone. “I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of putting my friends in the line of fire.”

Mills frowned at his brother’s resistance, but Doctor Sands cut in, “Just because you have it doesn’t mean you have to use it, right? You can get it now, then get comfortable with the idea and find people you don’t mind partnering with.”

He thought on it, and of his recent fights with AGES where they’d had weapons that had almost been able to punch through his blood-forged armor. If the Headmaster planned to keep asking favors in exchange for letting him stay at Youkai Academy, an advantage might be nice. After he could find someone he didn’t mind taking with him into a fight. “All right, what do I need to do?”

Mills clapped him on the back. “Just stand in the circle and try to act brave.”

 

XXX

 

Nigeki walked to the center of the circle clad in just a pair of shorts, which Doctor Sands said would be for the best since the energies would be concentrated on his chest. As he stepped into the center of the circle he was sure he could feel the temperature drop. He cast probing eyes around the room, sure the three of them weren’t alone. The only thing he saw was Doctor Sands whispering something into Mills’s ear, something Mills had to bend almost completely over to let him do. Were they in on it with the other person he knew had to be in the room?

After a second Mills came over and  started to adjust the ring on one of the columns. “You doing all right, little brother?” he asked. “Is it true you’re already planning to get married?”

“ **No** , it’s **not** true,” Nigeki replied. “Did Kai say that?”

Mills smirked and released the ring as it started to grind. “No, dad did. He said he doesn’t believe her, but you must be doing well at school to have a girl that pretty say something like that about.” Immediately the room became even cooler, but Mills didn’t seem to notice. “I’m really going to have to meet this girl of yours.”

“I’m not getting married, Mills. Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure, little brother, sure,” Mills replied and went to fiddle with another of the columns. Have you checked in on Frightbook in a while? Cousin Laura got worried when you stopped responding to her updates. She heard about an explosion someplace called Witch’s Knoll. Wondered if you knew anything about it?”

“That was me,” Nigeki admitted.

Mills laughed. “Look at you! When Laura came to stay with us you’d never even been off the grounds. Now you’re blowing things up and freaking her out even though she lives on the other side of the ocean!”

“She’d never think of me as ‘the nice one’ now, huh?” Nigeki asked, a hint of a smirk forming on his mouth.

            “ **I** was ‘the nice one,’ ” Mills corrected him with a smirk of his own. “ **You** were ‘the sad one’.”

            Nigeki laughed. “And Kai was ‘the constipated one’!”

            His brother laughed too, but retorted, “Heh, maybe you are ‘the nice one’.” Nigeki gave him a look of confusion, but Mills added, “That’s way too nice to describe Kai!” The brothers dissolved into laughter again.

            After a minute they quieted down and Nigeki sighed. “Yeah, I guess being away has changed me a little.”

            “You must have some pretty impressed people back at school, little brother,” Mills replied.

            Nigeki shook his head and opened his phone to reveal a picture of a curvaceous woman in a dark purple dress, smiling happily as her fluffy white hair fell down all around her face. Mills whistled. “Who’s **that**?”

            “Her name’s Toriel,” Nigeki explained, his voice a little distant and dreamy, which made Mills snort faintly in amusement. Nigeki didn’t seem to hear it, though. “Look, I have really awesome people back at school, but she just…when I was in trouble, more than once even, she just came right after me to help get me out. Plus she’s….I don’t know…she’s…” His cheeks started to turn red.

            Mills whistled. “Somebody’s crushing on teacher. And I don’t blame him.”

            “It’s not like that!” Nigeki insisted.

            “Saying that just makes it sound even more like it **is** , little brother,” Mills replied.

            Nigeki sighed, but kept looking at Toriel’s picture. “It’s not.”

            “Sure it isn’t,” Mills replied.

            They stopped as a cold prickle ran up both their necks, and they realized Sands was standing behind them.

            “She’s a pretty awesome lady, huh?” he asked.

            Nigeki arched an eyebrow at the short scientist. “You saying you met her?”

            “Who, me?” Doctor Sands answered, but then produced a pouch seemingly out of nowhere and opened the drawstring, revealing a small crystal globe. Inside was a small green net-like object made of crisscrossing strands, small blips of light whizzing up, down and around the network of pathways. As he opened his hands it floated into the air dead center between the four columns. It looked like it might’ve been about to float through the ceiling before suddenly a beam of light shot out of each column and caught the sphere.

            “Now just hold still, little brother. This won’t hurt. Or at least that’s what **he** says,” Mills said, a mixture of teasing and reassurance. Sands’s grin seemed to turn up at the edges a little as he fiddled with a metal rod with a series of gears on it. The light surrounding the Joining Nexus pressed down, lowering the sphere containing it toward Nigeki. After a minute it touched his skin and a rush of cold raced across his body, just as another power seemed to anchor his feet to the floor as the Gear pressed against his skin. He stared in a mixture of disbelief and slight horror as it started to disappear through his skin.

            Then for a second he suddenly twisted to one side and his Bloodstone belt flashed into view around his waist. His eyes shimmered and his fangs extended. The primal part of his being, the hunter, sensed the new power being integrated into his body. An alien power, one it didn’t understand or control. Nigeki tried to step away from the Sphere, but Sands whirled the cogs on his device faster and the rays of energy from the columns pushed it down quicker than before. In another second it had been absorbed completely into Nigeki’s body. Green trails spread across his skin looking like circuitry for a moment, then they faded from sight.

            Nigeki shook his head to clear a dazed feeling from it. Mills came over and caught him by the shoulders to stead him. “How do you feel, little brother?” he asked quietly.

            “I don’t feel any different.”

            “You won’t until you actually use the Gear, smart guy,” Mills told him.

            But as Mills said that, a wave of almost undetectable energy from the infusion of the Sacred Gear went slipping across the grounds of the house, and it sent out a silent call picked up by insidious ears.

           

XXX

 

            Near the edge of the wall of the estate stood a raised platform, made of stone and inscribed with arcane symbols inlaid in a thick black metal. A smaller platform about five feet across and made from pure white stone rose from the center. It was an elaborate portal that could, with careful magical tuning, send and retrieve people almost anywhere in Makai Realm.

            It was how the family had been trying to find places where the Tears gathered in the far reaches of the strange world of monsters. Normally it took a carefully-coordinated team of magical practitioners to adjust and activate it.

            The inlaid runes flashed green and lines of power ran from them inward along the platform. A whirlpool of silvery water whipped from the raised center, higher and higher until it was nearly twelve feet tall. It started to take shape as it glided across the ground, seeking its kindred…

 

XXX

 

            “Something’s wrong,” Nigeki whispered before he realized what he was saying.

            Mills squinted at his brother in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

            “He means somebody’s crashing your party,” Doctor Sands replied, and Mills turned around to see he’d somehow gotten to the door to his lab, and already he was halfway through the door.

            Mills stared at him. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

            “Away,” Sands replied simply, his smile unmoved. “What? You expect me to stick around and fight something for you guys? I **already** saved you.”

            Mills scowled. “What are you two talking about?”

            But Sands was already down the hall and walking up the stairs, hand stuffed into his pockets. Strangely, Mills thought for sure that it looked like the skin on his hands was peeling off…

            Meanwhile, Nigeki was staring intently at a piece of machinery Mills had left in a corner of the room. “Come out of there, Mizore. Now,” he said. A second later Mizore leaned into view.

            “Hi.”

            “Is that my shirt?” he asked, and reached for the garment on the floor behind her, but Mizore snatched it away.

            “No, it’s mine now,” she said, completely deadpan as usual.

            Nigeki couldn’t help but laugh quietly at this. “My god…these are the kinds of friends I have.”

            “Lover-candidate.”

            “What?” he asked.

            “It’s higher than a friend.”

            He didn’t get the chance to ask about that. There was a sudden roaring noise like an explosion that sent tiny fountains of dust falling from the ceiling. Something was wrong. Without waiting, Nigeki ran out of his brother’s lab and up the stairs.

            As he made it up to the main floor the wall exploded inward and peppered the air with hunks of razor-sharp glass and huge pieces of brick and plaster. How had an attacker managed to get so close to the house?? And who could possibly be crazy enough to attack the house of a family of vampires?

            And when he saw what it was, his blood very nearly froze in his veins. It was a massive figure, nearly ten feet high, but its body and limbs almost impossibly thin and graceful as it danced and dodged around the attacks of two of the estate’s defenders, seeming to sense each blow coming with ease. Fitting as its body seemed to be not solid but fluid, made of some kind of silver liquid that it hurt to look at for more than a second or two. It had the shape of a humanoid but two long wings with plumes like icicles dangling down from them, matching its long, needle-like fingers. In what might be called its face there were a pair of glowing eyes, and light blue liquid trickled from them.

            Like tears.

            It was a Tear.

            It was impossible that something so beautiful and elegant could be the evil thing his family was dedicated to hunting down, but at the same time there could be no doubt it was anything else. Even from the house he could hear it monotonously repeating, “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…”

            He’d never actually seen on before. As it lashed out at the other two again, Nigeki knew he should change and get into the fight, but as he did he saw Oyakata’s body entombed in the plant behemoth she’d created as Ruby sobbed helplessly at her feet.

            “Hey!” he called out, and the Tear whipped around to face him, its torso twisted grotesquely around itself.

            “Please stop,” Nigeki said as calmly as he could. “Why are you attacking us? We want to understand you so—”

            Suddenly it stretched forward, twirling its upper body over and over until its heads was only a few feet away from him…then the eyes in its smooth face turned a blinding white. “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust,” it said insistently, and reached out to grab him, digging its needle-fingers into his arms and chest, spilling blood onto the grass.

            Nigeki cried out in pain. Somehow he’d known it would happen. The part of him that was a Tear had never been anything but trouble. But now, he was full of blood and feeling ready for anything. “ **Henshin!** ” The Bloodstone flashed into sight around his waist, but unlike all the other times blood didn’t flow out from it and form armor around him. Long lines weaving back and forth like microcircuitry ran up his arms and legs to his chest and as they all met around his heart there was a flash of power, of **life**.

            Then it cleared and he was clad in red armor, but now a solid color instead of a network of veins across his body. Silver edging had formed on the front of his black boots and gauntlets, the same bright color as the armor now over his chest, with shoulder plating decorated with engraving of an outstretched hand, and a circular hollow above his heart. His skull-like mask was more refined with a smooth mouthplate instead of a row of sharp teeth, and bright yellow lenses over its eyes instead of sunken sockets. Dark lines ran up his arms and legs that seemed to almost twist and writhe slightly if stared at for a few seconds.

            Bloodstone broke into a run at unbelievable speed, the feeling of his usual savage strength gone from his arms but his entire body seeming sleeker. In just a second he was on top of the Tear. It was faster than he’d ever gone, and he’d landed ten punches on the Tear’s chest before he could blink. The Tear swiped at his head and trailed silver dust in the air that burned lightly against his armor, but Bloodstone vaulted over its and turned to smash his foot down between the Tear’s shoulders as he went past.

            The Tear’s entire upper half snapped forward grotesquely from the force of Bloodstone’s kick. For a second it was motionless, like that might’ve killed it. But then the mark from Bloodstone’s attack reformed and the rest of its body slithered back into its original gleaming shape…he hadn’t done anything to it at all!

            But strangely, it did nothing to him either. The Tear stalked across the yard to the two people who’d been fighting it; the white streak in the hair of one of them meant it could only be Kai, but the other was a slender young woman with a head of long red hair that made her look like a blazing fireball as she and Kai charged the Tear.

            The Tear lifted both of its hands and lances of screaming white power flew from its fingers. Kai and the woman weaved around the first and as one both jumped into the air to avoid the explosion of the next wave of blasts that ripped craters in the ground and gaping holes in the side of the house. Both of them came down with a fierce flying kick aimed at the Tear’s chest. As they made impact the Tear skidded back to where Bloodstone stood.

He thought of his gauntlet’s blade extending to let him join in this attack. Maybe joining in this group attack would finally do something to the Tear…but nothing happened. This new form not only wasn’t as strong, it seemed it lost some of his weapons in the process!

Hissing in frustration Bloodstone hastily powered up another attack. “ **Heartcracker Punch!** ” his belt exclaimed. Glowing with crimson energy his fist slammed into the Tear’s waist and pushed forward while the flying kick from the others pushed it back, tearing the Tear in half!

Its silvery remains splattered on the ground, melting in midair. For a second Bloodstone felt a rush of victory.

But to his horror the silver puddles on the ground rose up, flew together and became the monster he and the others had just destroyed! Kai and the woman started to circle it in opposite directions but the Tear suddenly stretched impossibly thin and reached twice its height, its arms extending outward as it spun wildly and rained balls of power down on Kai and the woman. One hit her right between the shoulders and blew her ten feet through the air. Another went off at Kai’s feet and sent him flying in her direction, with yet another energy ball hitting Kai in midair and setting his clothes on fire.

Kai landed near the woman as the barrage finally stopped and awkwardly pulled himself to his knees protectively in front of her, his fingers slipping together with hers as she held a hand out to him. But Bloodstone had no time to think about it. The Tear reformed to its original shape again and placed its glistening hands on his shoulders. It stared right in his face, whispering, “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…”

Before he knew what he was doing Bloodstone heard himself repeating along with it. “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…” The words became louder and louder in his mind.

In the moments he had while he could still think of anything else a horrified thought came over him: the Tear hadn’t reacted to his attacks and hadn’t paid any attention to him until it wasn’t being attacked by anyone else was because it had been looking for **him.** The part of him that was a Tear too. Countless tentacles formed out of the Tear’s wings and attached themselves all over his arms and torso and its legs oozed around his. The tentacles started to suck the life out of his body, but there was nothing Bloodstone could do to resist. All he could do was tonelessly repeat, “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…” He was going to be absorbed into this thing, it was inevitable. He’d come so far and been given a new power, and he was already doomed.

Suddenly something flew through the air and severed two of the tentacles before lodging in the Tear’s side. Still Bloodstone couldn’t manage to resist until a storm of projectiles lodged in the Tear’s body and two in his left leg, biting through his armor. He screamed out in pain, but the words in his mind faded enough for him to smash his fists into the Tear’s chest with all his vampiric strength and make enough room to jump backwards as far as he could away from it. He landed staggering, and as soon as he came to a stop he saw what had hit him and was still lodged in his leg: a pair of ice daggers.

Then from out of nowhere, Mizore was at his side.

“Get out of here,” Bloodstone croaked.

“No,” she answered, and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “You’re not involving me. I’m involving myself. You helped me without asking…you don’t get to tell someone you care about them and then tell them they can’t help you if you’re in trouble.”

“Mizore…,” he gasped in pain, but chuckled. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” he breathed. “All of you gave me your blood when the Tear had me before, but you were the first one. You didn’t even stop and think, you just did it…thank you.”

Then he saw she had something in her other hand, a small black orb of some kind. “What’s that…?” he asked. It started to glow as if in answer to his question. Then the Bloodstone in his belt called out, “ **Blizzard Heart!** ”

“What?” Bloodstone himself asked. The orb in Mizore’s hand glowed and seemed to absorb her body before suddenly rocketing into the circular notch in his new armor.

“ **Synch!** ”

Bloodstone’s body contorted and a wave of power erupted out from him that knocked down everyone within fifty feet, including the Tear and Kai and the woman, and uprooting hedges and concrete yard ornaments.

When the wave finally faded away, the Bloodstone who had been there a moment ago was gone…

 

XXX

 

Immediately a sheet of frost blasted across every surface and punched in every window that was too close. Kai fell backward in surprise as he caught a faceful of snow.

Standing in a patch of brown grass was Bloodstone, looking even thinner and leaner than before. The red on his armor had gone completely white, but the writhing black lines on his arms and legs were now covered by rows of short but sharp icicles. Rows of ice-covered spikes also sprouted from the wrist of his right gauntlet, now thick and wide enough to look like a shield with a long spike in the middle, and a row of jagged icicles ran down the scalp of his helmet. The lenses on his mask had gone pale blue and were edged with frost. Finally the outstretched hand emblems on his shoulder armor had been replaced with waving lines suggesting an icy wind, identical to the image on the orb now lodged in his chest armor.

Mentally, the change was even greater. Nigeki was no longer alone in his mind. Now he could feel another presence; it was cool, aloof, but it stood beside him, ready to plunge into whatever challenged them. Not trying to dominate him or usurp control of his for its own goals like the Tear within him or even the primal hunter side of himself that changing into Bloodstone could bring out.

It was Mizore. She seemed to look over at him, the faintest of smiles on her lips, and then back to the Tear, ready to take it on together.

The Tear went motionless for a few seconds and then circled Bloodstone slowly, cautiously. “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust,” it whispered again, but this time Bloodstone didn’t respond, instead going into a fighting stance. The Tear suddenly spun around at blinding speed like a miniature tornado, sending spears of energy shooting in every direction.

Kai grabbed the woman he’d been fighting beside by the hand and dragged her through the remains of the wall of the house. Bloodstone stood his ground and held out one hand that glowed blue before the projectiles about to hit him froze in midair and then exploded into a blinding spray of frigid dust.

The Tear thrust its arm into the dust cloud but hit nothing at all. It twisted back and forth trying to spot Bloodstone, just in time to see him come running up and stab his wrist spikes into the silvery monster’s side and rake them downward. He dodged out of the way of as the Tear slammed one spindly arm down where he’d been, splintering the ground. Again Bloodstone stabbed the spikes of his gauntlet into the Tear’s liquid-like body and raked them across its side. To his surprise neither of the wounds he’d inflicted healed themselves closed this time. Had the Sacred Gear he and Mizore were using now made them more powerful than the Tear was?

He seemed to get his answer when all of a sudden it stretched its upper body around in a circle and smashed its head against his chin and knocked him sprawling. But Bloodstone rolled with the impact, somersaulting backward and ending on his feet. Immediately he gathered his power to see what this new form could really do.

“ **Ice Slasher!** ” He swung his arm in an arc and a crescent wave of energy ripped through the air and hit the Tear’s arm as it started to throw an energy ball. Instead the monster’s arm froze completely solid and shattered into a hundred pieces as Bloodstone dashed in with blinding speed and delivered a vicious kick.

An earsplitting shriek of pain came from the Tear who melted into a puddle and burrowed into the ground. A second later it exploded out of the ground at Bloodstone’s feet like an angry geyser and tore and slashed at his armor with its long glistening claws. One claw went straight for his heart but Bloodstone raised his larger right gauntlet like a shield and blocked it just in time. He aimed his other hand to one side and a blast of biting cold wind exploded from his palm and sent him flying free of the Tear’s grip.

He jumped off the side of a tree, splitting the top off with the force of his push, but had no time to notice the crash as it hit the ground. Bloodstone somersaulted in the air and then opened his stance and threw his arms wide to tackle the Tear. It started to slither out of the way when out of nowhere Kai and the woman dashed up from opposite sides and delivered two perfectly-timed roundhouse kicks to the sides of its head. It burst from the force, but even as the fragments actually drifted through the air back into the Tear’s body Bloodstone launched another attack.

“ **Freeze Bomber!** ” He pumped his arms back and forth with ice hunks the size of basketballs flying from his palms and bombarding the Tear. Its liquid form bent and contorted as the huge ice bullets battered it again and again until it collapsed into a thick silver puddle.

The part of him that was Nigeki hesitated. Through his veins flowed the blood of one of the deadliest predators in the humans’ world or his. But could he fight to the end if that was what it took? And was that what it took?

It did, didn’t it? This thing had snuck into his home, attacked without mercy trying to get to him, and when it failed to absorb him it had tried to destroy him, and it had shrugged off everything a pair of vampires had thrown at it. The Tear had to be stopped before it could do any more damage, and Bloodstone was the only one who could do it. The part of Bloodstone that was Mizore was silent, only giving off a cold loathing at this abomination that had tried to take away something…

As Bloodstone landed he turned around to see the Tear morphing into another new shape. Within seconds it had reshaped itself into a long cone, looking like a cannon. Inside it a sinister glow started to form, no doubt a devastating attack it meant for the opponent it had failed to control.

Bloodstone concentrated on all their combined power for what came next. The temperature around him plummeted, and out of the corner of one inhumanly sharp eye he saw the leaves on every tree surrounding the house turn brown and fall off. A pale blue glow formed at the tip of the spike on his bulkier right gauntlet and traveled down to his clenched fist.

“ **Aurora Glacia!** ” called the voice of his buckle as he cocked back his arm and then slammed his hands together released the power he’d built up. Two ribbons of ghostly energy, both as tall as Bloodstone, jumped from his knuckles and spiraled through the air like partners in a dance, easily ripping up the ground as they passed. The Tear hummed menacingly and recoiled as it fired its own shot, a ball of energy twice the size of anything it had unleashed before. The two shots collided in midair and pushed back against each other for a second before Bloodstone’s beam split through and slammed into the Tear.

Immediately cracks formed all over its body. It quivered and melted away into a puddle before surging up and trying to take on a humanoid form again, but the cracks only stretched higher until they covered every inch of the horror’s body. Finally with one terrible screech it shattered into a storm of dust.

Bloodstone thought for a second he spotted a small, wispy shape flying up from the remains but in the next instant it was out of sight.

 

XXX

 

In a flash of light Bloodstone reverted with Nigeki and Mizore appearing where he’d been. “That was…I don’t even have a word for it,” Nigeki panted.

“You don’t need a word…,” Mizore whispered and reached out to slip her hand around the back of his head.

“ **THAT WAS AWESOME!!!** ” a voice exclaimed from an upstairs window. Nigeki jumped back in surprise and looked up to see his little sisters looking out the window, Mei grinning and still clutching her precious Wular toys to her chest. Behind them was their mother, but as Nigeki met her eyes she scowled faintly and walked away from the window.

He sighed and wondered if he’d ever change her mind about him. Then Mizore lightly draped her arm over his shoulder, and he started wondering instead about the tiny but knowing smile of hers.

“Hey, you two!” someone else called. It was the woman with red hair as she jogged over to them. “That was incredible, I’ve never that much power before!... Are you one of Takeshi’s consultants?”

“Hi, Akari!” Mei called and waved from the window. “Why don’t you marry my other brother instead? He’s way better than Kai!”

“That’s enough, Mei!” Nigeki called back up.

The woman, Akari, evidently, gave him a surprised look. “Brother? Then you must be the one I just found out about.” She bowed lightly and came back up smiling pleasantly at him. “I’m Akari Kuchihige. I’m Kai’s fiancée…but I wonder why he never introduced us.”

He bowed in return, and stopped to brush a covering of dust off his shoulders. “I’m Nigeki. I’m not surprised he doesn’t talk about me. He thinks I’m kind of the dead weight of our family.”

“When you can fight like **that**??” Akari asked in disbelief, and Nigeki just shrugged. Akari turned to Mizore next. “And who might you be?”

“Mizore Shirayuki. Nice to meet you too,” Mizore said. “Since we’re going to be related soon too.”

            “Mizore…,” Nigeki sighed, facepalming.

 

XXX

 

            Meanwhile, Mills had finally caught up to Doctor Sands, or whoever he really was at the wall at the edge of the estate. The squat man turned around to face him, the same lazy grin on his face as ever. His skin had completely peeled away completely, leaving dull white bone. His clothing had changed to a faded blue hoodie, stained undershirt and frayed black shorts whose pockets his bony hands were stuffed into. Sands seemed completely undisturbed by the fact that Mills had followed him, and now saw him for what he really was.

            “Who are you?” Mills demanded. “What did you do you?? You made my little brother a magnet for Tears!”

            “One-time thing from the Gear joining,” Sands replied.

            “And why should I believe that?”

            Sands chuckled. “ ‘Cuz it’s too much work to make something up.”

            “What?!” Mills exclaimed, clenching his fists. He wasn’t a fighter like Kai, or like Nigeki for that matter, just a scholar. But this man had snuck into their house and done something to his little brother, and he was losing patience with his answers quickly.

            Sands shrugged. “Relax, buddy. The boss knows what he’s doing. Your little brother’s fine, and he’ll be glad for what I gave him soon.”

            Slowly Mills’s fists unclenched. Somehow, Mills felt he should believe the skeleton, if only because of that strange but understandable remark about family. Besides, for all the wiseass attitude he was projecting, he had to have been formidable to get inside the Hitoribos’ network. And if he’d gotten his skinless hands on an actual Sacred Gear, he had to be powerful. “So what happens now?”

            “What happens now? I’ll tell you. Look out for your annoying little brother. He may end up being the only thing you have left,” Doctor Sands called.

            “That’s why I gave him the Sacred Gear you got,” Mills called back.

            Sands laughed, and as he replied his voice seemed to change subtly, becoming…lazier. “that wasn’t me. that was somebody with a better attention span, who’s **almost** as smart.”

            Then a man, or something the size and shape of a man, was standing next to him. Mills had simply blinked and there he was, wearing a long black cloak and a white mask with a wide mocking grin. Then as suddenly as he’d appeared, the two of them were gone without a trace.

            Mills stood and pondered what Sands had told him for a second, then turned and walked back to the house.

 

XXX

 

            When he got there Mills jumped in surprise to see the massive holes that had been punched not only in the walls but all over the back lawn. Nigeki and his friend were standing there silently taking beratement from Kai about all the damage their fight had done. Mizore in particular seemed unaffected by Kai’s shouts, blushing slightly and fondly cradling the linking amulet Mills had given her in her hands.

            Akari stepped forward and put a hand on Kai’s shoulder, and he immediately stopped his verbal assault, but still frowned fiercely at his younger brother for a second. She led him away a few feet away with a mild look of disapproval, letting Mills step up and commandeer the conversation.

            “Something on your mind, Nigeki?”

            “I killed it,” the younger vampire replied softly, distantly. “I killed the Tear.”

            “You were the only thing that worked on it at all,” Akari reminded him. “What else could you have done?” Kai scowled, but slipped his arm around her shoulders, and Akari rested her hand over his.

            “And why was that?” Nigeki asked.

            Mills placed his hands on his younger brother’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. “Well, here’s a guess…the way Sands explained that Sacred Gear to me, it only works if you and the person you’re joining with already have a powerful bond.” Mizore squealed lightly. “The Tears seem like they embody despair. Maybe a powerful bond is the best thing to resist that.”

            “I still killed it…I never killed anything before!” Nigeki retorted, even as he thought of the escaped wisp and what that might’ve been.

            Patiently, Mills replied. “What was the alternative, Nigeki? Letting them destroy the world?”

            “No…”

            “Then maybe you did a good thing.”

 

XXX

 

            **Sorry if this one was kind of packed, had a lot of the family dynamic to show off. Kai’s girlfriend in particular was included so that I could try to give his issues with his brother some color while also showing he’s not just a gigantic asshole. I don’t believe anybody is, all the time. Hope it gave a good look into what things are like at home for Nigeki, though.**

            **If “Doctor Sands” seemed familiar, well, he WAS who you’re probably thinking of. To anybody who might’ve been hoping his lines would be in their usual font, sorry, but all-lower case is the closest I could come. Special fonts didn’t survive the upload either place I post this story.**

**If he seemed a little less lazy and defeatist then usual, though, I’m trying to go with a more positive mindset and the other characters from that game. That finally escaping captivity has given that group of monsters renewed hope for something better, even if there’s still a lot of work to be done before humans are ready to make peace.**

**Finally, Bloodstone’s little upgrade was the result of a couple of ideas coming together, although the biggest one was Steven Universe and its idea of character fusion. Got some plans for that…hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	6. Chapter 17: More Than a Man

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 17 – More Than A Man**

 

            The second stack of papers was already halfway gone. Moka Akashiya tried to see it as a good sign; last time, not enough students had wanted a paper for them to even finish the first stack. Still, she’d take a low turnout over knowing she hadn’t gone to help her best friend when he’d been hauled in by the old Security Committee.

            She was still a little surprised that the thought of him didn’t get a derogatory snap from her deeper, more violent self anymore. Originally the deeper Moka had nothing but scorn of Nigeki Hitoribo. A vampire, the strongest and proudest of monsters, who tried to hide from his power and run away from conflict. Ever since they’d fought together to bring down the old Security Committee, there hadn’t been a word from her deeper self about him.

            “Hey! Can I get a paper a boy?” called as he walked up, a barely-concealed lewd grin on his face. Then again, Moka thought, there was probably another reason their latest issue was doing so well. She handed the boy a paper, and he eagerly flicked through it until he found the article he’d been looking for buried in the middle. Or rather, the picture accompanying it.

The photo showed a number of female students, carefully cropped to hide anything explicit so the club wouldn’t be shut down, chasing the strange bathtub-turtle creature out of the shower room, a look of absolute panic on his little face.

            In the corner one could even the roundhouse punching coming that had made Ginei buy a new zoom lens.

            The bathtub-turtle had been spared when the head of campus security intervened and claimed to recognize him. He claimed his name was Woshua, and a bunch of girls glistening with sweat after a pitched soccer game had been a call to action to save them from a scourge of horrific microbes and foot fungus.

            The student frowned, obviously not interested in that last part of the story, but folded the newspaper up and took it with him anyway. As he walked around the corner of the main building he suddenly jumped back in surprise from someone coming the other way. It was another boy, thin and dark-haired, but looking out of place in dark pants and an off-white shirt rather than the school’s blue and tan.

            “NIGEKI!”

            Moka threw down the stack of newspaper and dashed over and threw her arms around him. “There you are,” Moka said after a minute and broke the hug. “I’ve been… **we’ve** been worried sick about you. Why didn’t you call and let us know you were all right?”

            “I don’t have your number,” Nigeki answered, a sheepish grin on his face.

            “What??”

            “I don’t have your number,” he repeated. “We’d always just talk about our plans in person, remember?”

            “Oh…right,” she murmured. “But where were you? Why were you gone so long…?”

            He shrugged lightly, but Moka looked him right in the eye and folded her hands together, jutting her lip out in a slight pout at him, and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to just play it off. “I…well, I was out trying to find my little sisters. The Headmaster found out where they were somehow, and I had to find them and take them home. I couldn’t just leave again right away after that, right?”

            Moka nodded thoughtfully. “Your family, right…hey Nigeki? What’s this?” she asked and held up a small orb of red crystal.

            “Uh…why do you ask?” Nigeki replied, although he was already sure he knew the answer. The orb was exactly the size as the one Mizore had been given that let her interact with his new powers.

            Giving him a quizzical look, Moka explained herself, “I got this in the mail from Mills Hitoribo. Isn’t that your brother’s name? The nice one?”

            “Yeah, that’s my brother,” Nigeki replied with a hint of menace in his voice, not so sure if he was “the nice one” anymore for springing something like this on him. Giving a linking amulet to his new Sacred Gear to another of his friends without a word. “He just sent you that?”

            Moka nodded. “Uh-huh. Just this. No letter or instructions or anything. I mean, it’s pretty…but it’s kind of strange to just send it to someone else’s friend, isn’t it?”

            “AH! Hitoribo-san! You’re finally back!” He turned as another pink-haired girl called out to him, this one being pushed his way in a wheelchair. Doing the pushing was a smiling dark-haired boy with a black eye. As Nigeki remembered that was Ginei Morioka, the president of the newspaper club that Moka and his other friends belonged to. The president who liked to take pictures of girls without their knowledge, as Nigeki also remembered.

            “Hello, Mero-chan,” Nigeki smiled gently and nodded. “You look like you’re doing well.”

            As he said that, Meroune grabbed his arm and stroked her dainty fingers along it. “It’s good to see you, Hitoribo-san,” she cooed. “You were away so long with no word, I was afraid something… **tragic** might have happened to you,” she went on, but was there a little glint of excitement in her eye at the word?

            Ginei stepped forward, an exaggeratedly shiny smile on his face that wouldn’t fool anyone. “I’ve been looking after Lorelei-sama. A beauty with such a regal bearing shouldn’t be left thinking such morbid thoughts.”

            Meroune giggled. “Isn’t he sweet?” Nigeki said nothing, but thought _that’s one word for it_. She went on, “He was trying to catch that peeper who came into the girls’ shower room the other day when he got hurt, you know.”

            Nigeki looked over at Moka incredulously, who just shook her head. “Well, I’m glad things are going all right…and wait, your family name is Lorelei? That’s really pretty,” he replied, hoping he sounded friendly.

            He guessed he did, because Meroune smiled, and behind her Ginei glowered. “Thank you, Hitoribo-san! Oh, but that reminds me, I got something in the mail from ‘Mills Hitoribo’,” she said, and Nigeki didn’t have to guess what was about to happen. She reached into a fold of her dress and got out a small orb of watery blue crystal. “Do you know what this is?”

            “Maybe I can figure it out after I’ve been back for a little bit longer. It was kind of intense while I was gone,” Nigeki replied to her.

            “Oh, that’s awful!” Meroune gasped. “You should relax. There will be plenty of time later!” She turned to Ginei for a second. “Thank you for helping me around, and I hope you’ll go one protecting us from horrible peepers.” She turned back to Nigeki. “Doesn’t he have such a gallant smile?” she asked, then wheeled away in the direction of the girls’ dorm.

            Once she was out of earshot, Nigeki gave Ginei an incredulous look. “Gallant, huh?”

            Ginei grimaced. “You saying I’m not good enough for a girl like her?”

            “That’s for **her** to say,” Nigeki replied. Behind him he was sure he heard Moka make a little uncertain-sounding moan.

            A tense moment passed with Ginei glaring at Nigeki, who stared back at him but only looked worn down from what he’d been doing while he was off campus. Finally Ginei was the one to break the silence. “Akashiya-san, hand out the rest of those papers,” he said, and then turned and stalked off the other way.

            Moka gently squeezed her fellow vampire’s shoulder. “I was afraid for a second you were going to fight…or something.”

            “There’s too much of that already,” Nigeki replied, but he turned around and managed a smile. “Why don’t I help you hand those out?”

            She brightened at the offer. “Really?”

            But Nigeki’s smile faded as he spotted something over her shoulder. “Actually, looks like I’m not so free all of a sudden…” Moka turned to see what he was looking at: a slim woman coming their way, prim glasses balanced on her nose and puffy blue hair tied back in a thick ponytail. There was no mistaking Felicia, the faculty advisor of his Drama Club. It had turned out she was actually keeping an eye on him for the Headmaster to decide if he might be a useful agent in exchange for being allowed to stay at the school. Given that, he doubted she was coming to make sure he’d been rehearsing his lines while he was gone.

            “Come on, kid. Let’s get you debriefed,” she said simply, tiredly, sounding resigned to an idea she wasn’t fond of.

            “But Bast-sensei, I don’t wear briefs.”

            “Oh, so you’re a comedian now too, huh?” she said with an incredulous lift of her eyebrow.

But did her mouth turn up just a bit in amusement before she turned back to the school building?

 

XXX

           

            Felicia released her hand from Nigeki’s shoulder and opened the massive double doors leading to the Headmaster’s office. She hadn’t gone in front of him…apparently she was well aware of the fascination her figure had for boys his age.

            The room on the other side was surprisingly dark, lit only by a pair of quartz lamps in the ceiling above the massive carved desk that the hooded figure was sitting at. One on side stood Ruby Toujo, the young witch Nigeki had met on his recent trip off-campus, wearing a black miniskirt and blazer. Nigeki caught himself staring at her long, slender legs, and apparently Ruby caught him too, her cheeks turning a bit pink and looking away from him.

            But the most surprising thing he saw was Toriel standing on the other side of the Headmaster’s desk, idly reading a book as she’d been waiting for him and Felicia to arrive for their meeting to begin. She was wearing a long dress in her normal regal purple, but had on her reading glasses. Small, half-moon lenses secured around her neck by a thin blue strap with yellow flowers on it, making her look even more calm and refined than usual. As she snapped her book shut and looked up to meet Nigeki’s eyes she cracked a small but warm small in his direction.

            “Ah, there you are, child,” Toriel said gently. “Before we start the meeting, do you think you could tell me what this is?” As she asked she produced a small golden crystal orb.

            Mills sent one to **Toriel** too?? Did he send one to everyone at the entire school, or just the ones Nigeki knew?

            “Time enough for that soon, Mrs. Dreemurr,” the Headmaster replied, steepling his fingers and settling his glowing gaze on Nigeki. “I sent you to find Lady Oyakata and ask for her help. Miss Toujo has informed me about how their home was targeted by a group calling itself AGES, and how Oyakata forced you into a situation where you’d have to destroy her to protect that town, but also that Oyakata sent for you in the middle of the attack. We need to know everything she told you.”

            “It wasn’t very much,” Nigeki replied. “Mainly just that something really big’s coming and somebody was trying to get her help in dealing with it. Some ‘doctor’ or somebody.”

            The Headmaster’s glowing eyes narrowed slightly inside his hood. “A doctor? Who?”

            “No, not him.”

            “This is no laughing matter, Mr. Hitoribo,” the Headmaster said suddenly, harshly. “Something _is_ coming. If a separate party is trying to prepare, and it’s hiding from us, and coopting resources we’ve scouted, the situation could be disastrous.”

            Felicia scoffed. “Resources. Is ‘allies’ too hard for you to say, Tenmei?”

            He ignored her and kept his attention focused on Nigeki. “Did Oyakata tell you **anything** else at all?”

            “Something about ‘beware of the man who speaks in hands,’ ” Nigeki replied with a shrug. “Maybe that’s the ‘doctor’ guy she was talking about. I don’t know. She didn’t tell me even after I destroyed her book and we got away from AGES.”

            Ruby cleared her throat and all eyes were on her. “I never met ‘the doctor,’ sir. I believe the mistress was trying to shield me from him…but that would certainly make sense with him being someone she would warn Hitoribo-san to be careful of.”

            “Fantastic!” Felicia exclaimed. “Someone even a seasoned witch is afraid of! I told you we never should’ve gotten kids involved!”

            “I agree,” Toriel spoke up. “I’ve seen a child do a miraculous thing, but so many others paid with their lives attempting what he achieved.”

            “A useful **ally** ,” the Headmaster retorted, grinding out the word at Felicia, “is an ally regardless. He may be a child—”

            “Excuse me!” Nigeki interrupted, bristling at being called that after everything he’d gone through lately. “Maybe I’m **not** that experienced yet, but I’m a kid **you** guys trusted with a Sacred Gear, aren’t I?!”

            Silence descended on the Headmaster’s office, and Nigeki’s bravado very quickly faded as the hooded man stood up, rested his hands on the desk as he leaned over it and in a menacing whisper said, “Please repeat that, Mr. Hitoribo.”

            “Didn’t you?” Nigeki replied, trying to collect himself. “When I was at home I met a Doctor Sands who’d been working with my brother on a way to put one of those into my body and give me new abilities. He told me you had him do it.”

            The Headmaster’s eyes seemed to turn a cold, angry shade of grey. “I don’t know of any such ‘Doctor Sands,’ and I certainly don’t have something on the order of Sacred Gear just sitting around. Even if I did…you have the potential to be very helpful, Mr. Hitoribo, but you haven’t proven yourself **that** valuable yet.”

            Toriel put one warm hand on Nigeki’s shoulder and the tension he’d been feeling of being under the Headmaster’s scrutiny faded. She bent over and looked him in the eye, but as always her look was calm and patient, analyzing but not judging. He felt himself getting lost in those eyes…

            From a thousand miles away he heard her say, “I think he’s telling the truth.”

            “Then let’s get it out of him!” Felicia cried.

But the Headmaster clapped his hands suddenly and sharply, flooding the room with magical light for a second. “ **No** ,” he said quietly. “Your concern is admirable, but if it **is** a true Sacred Gear then removing it would certainly kill him. Let me examine it, then I’ll have to compare the reading to be sure. But let me put it this way, Hitoribo-san: if you have a true Sacred Gear, whether you want to be or not, this ‘Doctor’ certainly wants you involved in what’s coming…”

 

XXX

 

            After some magical scanning by the Headmaster, Toriel had walked Nigeki out of the building, lightly questioning him about Doctor Sands and if he was likely to be “the Doctor” that Oyakata had talked about. Somehow he’d doubted it; strange as he’d been, nothing about Sands seemed to indicate “a man who spoke in hands.” But when Nigeki mentioned the man’s strange puns a thoughtful look came over Toriel. She almost looked embarrassed when Nigeki mentioned Sands seeming to recognize a picture of her…or had it been the strange fact that Nigeki kept a picture of her?

            She’d carried the crystal ball Mills had sent her in her hand the whole time she’d been walking him home. He didn’t once consider telling her what it was for, but spent the whole time wondering in the back of his mind what combining with her would be like…

            Still thinking about combining with Toriel, Nigeki unlocked his door in the dorm, and as he stepped into his tiny room a feeling of calm,of **being home** really settled in.

             He threw his futon on the floor with a sigh of relief and sat down at his desk and turned on the tiny lamp he did his homework by, although his good mood soured a little as he thought of how much homework he’d be making up under it soon.

            “…Nigeki?”

            His predatory instincts took over for a second as he heard the voice, sitting straight up and whipping around to the door. The person standing there jumped in alarm, but he settled down when he saw it was just Moka. “Oh…hi, Moka. I’m sorry, I’ve had a couple of scary experiences while I was gone.”

            The next thing he knew she’d rushed into the room and was looking him in the face with an expression of worry. “What?? What happened?” she asked, and when he tried to step back she grabbed him by the shoulders and held on with surprising strength.

            “I…I went and saved my sisters from some dangerous humans,” he started to answer.

            “Is it about that explosion at that place? Witch’s Knoll??” Moka cut him off suddenly.

            “Does **everyone** know about that?”

            “Pretty much,” Moka said, and looked away a bit sadly. “It got around on the internet. Somebody got pictures of what everyone thinks was you fighting some kind of huge plant. A lot of the kids at school are hoping you died back there.”

            He cupped her chin and led her around to face him again, a slight smirk on his face. “Too bad Kamen Riders can never die, right?” he asked her.

            She studied him for a few seconds before saying, “You’re different.”

            “…oh? What do you mean?”

            “Well, um…,” Moka said, suddenly unsure and unwilling to look him in the eye. Was there a wry smile on her face? “I don’t know…like the day I met you, you tried not to get into a fight with Saizou at all. You seemed like you were trying to avoid getting too involved—”

            “I was,” Nigeki confirmed.

            She nodded lightly. “…and now you’re showing up on the internet, and you weren’t even bothered when I said I heard people hoped you died and were never coming back.”

            He opened his mouth to answer, then stopped to think for a second. Finally he answered, “I guess I’m learning what it’s like to be allowed to actually do something, instead of just be quiet and stay out of the way so I don’t bother anyone. **Somebody** thinks I can make a difference, so I’m gonna take it.”

            “Somebody? Who?” Moka asked, but looking curious now instead of scared.

            “ **I** already know all about it,” a teasing voice answered for Nigeki. He turned to the window just in time to catch a flash of striped panties as Mizore Shirayuki suddenly slipped off the ledge outside of his window, long lavender hair dancing behind her for a second. She was triumphantly holding up the small orb she’d used to fuse with Nigeki before.

            Then Moka got out the orb Mills had sent her too, and the lollipop dropped out of Mizore’s mouth. “Oh, so they gave you one too, Shirayuki-san?” asked an oblivious Moka. “Do you know what they’re for?”

            Nigeki hastily stepped between them as the temperature in the room plummeted and a sheet of ice coated the wall behind Mizore. He’d known what she’d been thinking since they’d joined up to fight the Tear at his family’s house. But…he’d hoped to have the chance to find a way to explain it without provoking anyone.

Being upfront was the only thing he could think of to. “When I was gone, I got a power called a Sacred Gear…it lets me combine into one monster with someone who has one of those. Our powers are combined too,” Nigeki explained.

            “Oh!” Moka said in surprise and covered her mouth with her free hand. “In one body with you??”

            “Yes,” Mizore answered for him, giving Nigeki a colder glare than he’d ever seen from her. “It was amazing. Our **powerful bond** let us beat one of those Tear monsters he talks about.”

            Nigeki’s eyes lowered and his expression darkened. “I know what you were hoping it meant when we did that, but I’ve told you, I’ve told **everyone** , I’m not dating yet. I’ve barely been out of the house for the first time.”

            “So what did it mean then?” Mizore whispered.

            Nigeki tried to consider his words carefully as the temperature sank even lower, and he considered telling Moka to run. Finally he spoke, “It meant you’re an important person to me, Mizore. That was the **second** time you saved me when the Tear part of me almost took me over. But did it mean I’m in love with you? I don’t know yet…I want to get to know that person, and fall in a love a little bit at a time. I want to enjoy what that person and I have together, you understand? The last thing I want is to rush in and screw everything up because it seems like a good thing’s going on, and just wreck it because I moved too fast.”

            Moka cleared her throat loudly to try to help defuse the situation, but squeaked in surprise when both of them looked over at her. “It…it…um! It sounds like you really thought it all through,” she stammered. Was that a hopeful glance of her own she gave him for a second?

            “I had thoughts about what I’d do with my life if I got the chance like anybody else,” Nigeki replied. He turned back to Mizore and softly placed his hands over her shoulders. She looked down, clutching her orb with quivering fingers. “Mizore, listen to me. You’ve been great…I need you to know you haven’t just saved my life, you’ve saved my **soul**. I’m grateful. But I don’t know if that means I’m in love.”

            A few seconds of silence followed and a sheet of frost crawled up over the orb in Mizore’s hand. “I see,” she finally said. Then ran past Nigeki and Moka and down the hall before they could stop her.

            “I’m…sorry about that,” Moka said supportively. “Would it help if I got rid of this?” she asked, showing him the orb she’d been sent.

            But Nigeki shook his head. “I think that’s up to you, Moka,” he told his fellow vampire. “I guess that’s something you have to decide, if you think you want to join me and help me fight.”

            She looked him in the eye then, her mouth open slightly in uncertainty. “Um… **do** you have someone…that you really like?” Moka asked.

            He smiled slightly teasingly as he answered. “No, not right now. But I have some really good friends. And I hear good friends make the best lovers.”

            “Oh!” Moka squeaked and blushed.

 

XXX

 

            The next day was a slog for Nigeki. He’d been off campus for more than a week, and a lot of the things they went over in class were a long way from where he remembered being when he’d left on the Headmaster’s little errand. He wasn’t looking forward to the amount of homework he’d be doing to catch up…

            Even worse was Mizore. She was still showing up in class, thankfully, but whenever he tried to look over at her to see if she was still upset over what he’d said the day before, she avoided even glancing in his direction.

            Everyone else was shooting him plenty of glances, nervous or angry ones. He tried to ignore them, focusing instead on the lesson, but out of the corner of one eye he kept . Eventually classes broke for lunch, and Nigeki tried to go over and say something to Mizore before she could disappear, but as soon as he stood up a beautiful girl with a bright blue ponytail grabbed him by the arm and whirled him out of the room and down the hall.

            “Finally! I thought I’d never get to show up in a chapter again!” she giggled.

            “Kurumu??”

            “You DO remember my name! I was starting to worry!” the succubus giggled again, finally stopping once they were at the end of a hall. A few passing students shot Nigeki disgusted looks, muttering things like “wish he **was** dead” and “thought this was supposed to be a **good** school.” Kurumu paid no attention to them at all. Instead she got out a small crystal orb, hers a soft pink in color. “It’s beautiful,” she said with blush creeping into her cheeks, and a knowing smile forming on her mouth. “What…is it, though?”

            After going over a dozen responses to the question in his head, Nigeki sighed inwardly and decided to give a straight and honest answer. It seemed like Mills had sent one of those to everyone Nigeki knew anyway, and he **did** owe them for coming to save him from the old Security Committee.

            “It’s…I think my brother called them ‘linking amulets’,” Nigeki explained, and Kurumu looked at him curiously. “They’re something he showed me while I was gone. I got an add-on to the Bloodstone, and if somebody has one of those and has a ‘powerful bond’ with me, when I change to Bloodstone we can combine into one monster.”

            Kurumu’s eyes went wide. “Combine into…”

            “…one monster,” a soft voice finished for her. Suddenly Mizore was standing next to Nigeki, holding up her own orb. “It was amazing,” she added, then as a shocked look came over Kurumu’s face, she added, “We were unstoppable.”

            Mizore turned and gave Nigeki a probing look straight into his eyes. But surprisingly her expression was passive, showing none of the anger and betrayal from last night.

            But as soon as he’d noticed, he blinked and she was already gone again. Typical for Mizore, but what had she been thinking interrupting like that? And if she wasn’t still upset at him for saying their fusion didn’t mean they were in love, why had she interrupted?

            The air between them was thick with silence for a second. Kurumu broke it as she asked, “You already did it…with her?”

            “It’s not like…that!”

            “Then what is it like?” Kurumu asked, curiosity and apprehension both dancing in her eyes.

            “It’s like…,” Nigeki started to say, but didn’t really have anything to compare it to. “I guess it was a lot like just being in one body, but you knew somebody else is there too. They wanted the same thing and they were moving with you, trying to do the same goal as you the whole time.”

            “Oh…wow,” Kurumu said and looked away. Then suddenly she looked him in the face again, smiling faintly. “You maybe doing anything after school today?”

            “I don’t have my club, but I probably have a ton of homewo—”

            “Great! I’ll see you then!” Kurumu said, and before he could protest she planted a warm kiss on his cheek and skipped away, smiling.

 

Xxx

 

            The rest of the day dragged on through dry lessons and the contemptuous looks of his classmates. Through it Nigeki found himself curious about what Kurumu had in mind after class was over, and if he should be afraid of the answer.

            But he was here to make friends and experience life. He’d barely seen some of them since getting back, though, like Moka and Yukari and Meroune…was this what having a bunch of friends was like to most people? Wondering if you were spending enough time with all of them? He was pretty sure he wasn’t…

            No sooner had the final class ended than a grinning Kurumu Kurono had grabbed him by the arm again and dragged him out of the school building at a run. “Where are we going?” Nigeki called out as they disappeared down a thin trail between trees. The only reply she gave him was a playful smile over her shoulder until finally pulling him to an empty cliff at the edge of the sparkling red ocean.

            “Look, Kurumu, I’m happy to spend more time with you, but what are we doing out here?” Nigeki asked, and finally got an answer.

            “Weeeeeeeelllll…,” she said, her ears turning red. “…you remember how we kissed before? It was kind of quick, but I was thinking maybe we could…practice?”

            “Practice **kissing**?” Was that something kids like them actually did? It sounded an awful lot like a convenient excuse. But…he was supposed to be letting his guard down a little and actually making friends here, he reminded himself.

            “It was your first one too, right?” Kurumu pressed on, sounding like there was nothing strange about such an idea. “I know, I wasn’t very good…so why don’t we get work on getting better?”

            Nigeki looked at her uncertainly, and she squirmed for a second but didn’t give any other sign of looking unsettled by him. “Kurumu, you’re nice, you’re really nice. But I told you, I’m not worried about dating anyone yet.”

            She came over and looped her arms around his neck. “It doesn’t have to be dating. It can just be **practice** for dating. There’s nothing wrong with that, right…?” she purred, and Nigeki swallowed. She was right next to him, pressing her soft chest right up against him and suddenly giving an upward thrust with her breasts against his skin he didn’t think for a second was an accident. But it felt so nice, and he noticed how her hair smelled like flowers…

            “Sorry, the kid’s practicing with **me** ,” someone said suddenly, making Nigeki jerk in surprise. Kurumu squealed in surprise but held on tight as they went down. She landed on top of Nigeki, knocking the wind out of him but never losing her grip around his neck, her breasts smashed against his chest. She wouldn’t let go, and it was a minute before Nigeki managed to push himself up enough to see who’d snuck up on them.

It was another beautiful woman with bright blue hair, a familiar pair of glasses balanced on her pert nose and an exasperated look on her face. It was Felicia, his erstwhile mentor, and Nigeki had a feeling she was there to discuss a lot more than the lessons he’d missed while he was finding his sisters.

Behind her was a tall, dark-skinned Brazilian boy; Enrique Sakamoto, the merman who’d gotten involved in Nigeki’s fights a few times.

            “Come on, boy,” Felicia said. “Time for your extra lessons.”

            “Bast-sensei, it’s my first day back,” Nigeki protested. “Can’t I make that up later?”

            “Not that kind of lesson,” Felicia replied, and smirked lightly. “Time for some combat training.”

 

XXX

 

            “Combat training?”

            “Combat training,” Felicia replied, then started unbuttoning her blouse giving a flash of purple lace.

            Kurumu gasped in shock and covered Nigeki’s eyes with her hand, scowling over at Felicia who just smirked back at her for a second and turning around as she kept undressing. “You better let him see. Otherwise he’s just going to get knocked all over the clearing,” Felicia called over one shoulder.

            “That’s your idea of training???” Kurumu demanded. “Getting naked in front of your students!?” She scowled even harder as she could feel Nigeki’s face getting hot at the thought of that comment, and a second later a trickle of blood started flowing from his nose.

            “I’m not getting my nice clothes all ripped up changing form still in them,” Felicia replied and suddenly a furry white tail flicked out from underneath the cascade of blue hair down her back.

            White fur sprouted all over her legs and arms, and her long fingers and toes sprouted ruby-red claws. She turned to face them, revealing patches of white fur across her pelvis and strips of matching fur across the front of her breasts, just barely keeping her decent. She leaned back and went into a fighting stance.

            “Get ready, kid,” she said.

            “Do you think you could put some clothes on first, Bast-sensei?” Nigeki asked as he finally pried himself away from Kurumu, only to spot Felicia’s bare form and another fountain of blood start to flow from his nose. Suddenly Felicia dropped to all fours and charged across the clearing at blinding speed before she jumped and slammed her foot into his stomach. The air was squeezed violently out of his lungs as Nigeki lifted off the ground and sailed through the air in an arc before crashing into the ground.

            “That’s lesson number one,” she said. “ **Never** lose focus on your opponent.”

            “Are you crazy?!” Kurumu screamed at the catwoman.

            “I don’t like the idea of anybody your age having to fight,” Felicia replied. “But Nigeki accepted a Sacred Gear. He’s involved now whether he likes it or not.”

            “And **I’m** not running away from my problems anymore,” Nigeki croaked and gasped out, losing a lot of the impact he’d been hoping to have. He sucked in a breath. “Let’s do it, then. **Hen—** ”

            “ **NO** ,” Felicia interrupted. “I’ve seen you fight, kid. You’ve been getting by on raw power, but that’s probably not always going to be enough. If I’m going to help you learn how to fight, then you’re going to learn how to do it by yourself. We’ll spar. If you change, you lose.”

            Nigeki sighed. “But that’s how I’ve always fought before. To make sure my vampire nature’s strong enough the…the **bad** part of me doesn’t try to take me over if I get hurt,” he explained, feeling like he shouldn’t mention the name of the Tear, as if that might somehow make it stronger.

            “That’s what you have **friends** for now,” Felica replied.

            Nigeki shrugged. “So what do I do, then? Teach me, sensei.”

            “Come at me,” Felicia replied.

            And he did. Nigeki slowly circled around Felicia, trying to rely on his predator’s instincts to sense an opening he could exploit. There was a dry snapping sound in the distance for just a second, like a branch being broken off, and Felicia flicked her head in its direction. Nigeki lunged.

            The next thing he knew he was face down in the dirt, and Enrique was chuckling.

 

XXX

 

            Undyne, new head of campus security, clenched her fist and felt the reassuring heft of one of her spears as it formed between her fingers. She unclenched and it faded away again. _Well, time to go out and keep the peace_ , she thought as she slung on her black leather jacket. At least there wouldn’t be any kids to sacrifice for the greater good **here**.

            “Do you really have to go out? Nothing’s out there.”

            “Pffft…afraid I’m gonna run into one of those flowery princesses they have up here and have to fight her in a duel for the woman I love?” Undyne smirked. “I’ll be fine, Alphy. When did I ever lose a fight before?”

            “Are you gonna be out all night?” Alphys asked meekly, hiding her hands behind her back.

            But Undyne shook her head. “I just need to walk the grounds and the main buildings…but it would sure go a lot faster if I actually had some other people to do a patrol and report back to me.”

            Alphys produced a wooden box with a lift-off lid and a yellow ribbon tied around it. “I…I! I made you a bentou in case you got hungry!” she exclaimed.

            Undyne snickered. “A what? You mean one of those lunches that the cute girl always makes for the cute boy she has a crush on?”

            “Y-you’re not a boy!” Alphys stammered, her cheeks and ears turning red at the teasing remark from her partner.

            Undyne took the box, then set it aside on the table next to the front door of their room. An abashed look came over Alphys’s face before Undyne suddenly picked up the shorter woman and hoisted her into a hug that squeezed the air out of Alphys’s lungs. “I know, I’m even better, right?” Undyne asked with a playful grin. Alphys hid her face behind her hands, but nodded. With a chuckle Undyne nudged the hands out of the way with her face and kissed Alphys hard on the mouth.

            For a second Alphys just hung there, but then she wrapped her stubby little arms around Undyne’s head and pulled her in deeper. They broke it with an actual *POP* that blew back the drapes in their room and looked into each other’s eyes, panting.

            “I’ll be all right, Alphy,” Undyne said and tucked the boxed snack into her jacket. “And I’ll be home a lot more after I get the chance to whip some discipline into the kids around here. See you soon.”

            And so Undyne stepped outside.

            She had no idea what she was in for.

 

XXX

 

            Dirt smeared Nigeki’s clothes and he was sporting a few new scratches all over his body, but Felicia’s lightning-fast swipes and kicks were hitting him less often now, and he jumped back to avoid another sliding kick to the stomach while he spat out a mouthful of dirt.

            As the catwoman jumped up and aimed her feet his chin again Nigeki dodged and only caught one on the side of his head, staggering him.

            Kurumu and Enrique looked on, the succubus squirming as she watched Nigeki go down again. She kept opening and closing her fingers, resisting the urge to flex them to their full sword-like length and jump into the fight, such as it was.

            “You’re worried about him?” Enrique asked suddenly. “This is only practice.”

            “Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Kurumu muttered. “What are you doing here, though? You come to watch him get knocked around?” she asked, but after a second wished she hadn’t been so harsh.

            But he just smiled faintly. “No, I’m here because I need some combat training too. My father was one of the Darkstalkers, you see…he helped Bast-sensei over there save the world a long time ago. Every time I’ve tried to pitch in to a fight, though, I’ve only gotten pounded.”

            “Yeah well, vampires are some of the strongest monsters in the world,” Kurumu replied.

            “My father defeated one who was supposed to be one of the strongest even among vampires,” Enrique replied himself. “If something big is going to happen, I want to be able to do my part.”

            “Oh yeah?” Kurumu asked. “And does it have something to do with wanting to impress a certain girl in a wheelchair?” she went on with a sly grin. Part of her suddenly said to encourage this fight practice. If Enrique could toughen up and impress Meroune enough that the mermaid girl would shift her attention, then Kurumu could kiss part of the competition goodbye…

            Suddenly Nigeki hit the ground again but there was a loud noise like a crash or snap that shouldn’t have followed a fall like he’d taken. Felicia turned away from her young opponent, furry ears pricking up trying to gauge where the sound had come from.

            “What was that?” Kurumu asked.

            “Go back to your rooms and stay there,” Felicia said without turning around. “You’ll be told in the morning if it’s safe to come to class.”

            “Excuse me!” Nigeki exclaimed, getting up on shaky legs. “I thought we were doing this because I was taking on my problems head-on now.”

            “We are,” Felicia replied. “That doesn’t mean you’re ready. Get to your rooms. **Now**.”

            And then she sank to all fours and went dashing out of sight.

 

XXX

 

            He cursed as the heavy doors creaked open. There shouldn’t have been so much noise, but he was still unfamiliar with the new tools that had been created since his last battle with monsters. What was a “bomb,” anyway?

            But he banished such frivolous thoughts. He was here to recover his family’s property and get back out. There were supposed to be some very powerful monsters protecting the secrets of this place, but that had never stopped him before…

            He slipped down the stairs and down the hall at the bottom, holding up the strange light the people at AGES had given him as he followed the direction indicated on the device. It was hardly as if he needed it, a familiar prickle racing up the back of his neck as he made his way through the dark halls, coming up to another pair of high doors. In the darkness they glowed faintly with protective magics…nothing he wasn’t prepared for, though.

            Putting away the detection device he pulled a vial of glistening blue shards from a pouch around his waist and sprinkled it in a semicircle in front of the door. Out came another vial full of yellow shards and he threw them on top of the blue. Then finally he got out a silver tuning fork, and lifted it to hit it against the wall—

            “Hold it!”

            He turned to face the owner of the voice, a scrawny woman with an eyepatch and a ponytail that was a menacing red in color. It was Undyne, head of campus security. In her hands she was clutching a spear that glowed with blue energy, and he doubted she was unable to use it.

            “I don’t come here looking for a fight,” he said, a warning undertone to his words. “Just let me take what’s mine from inside, and I’ll leave.”

            Undyne didn’t say anything. She just charged him, weaving back and forth across the room to make herself a harder target. He threw a cross-shaped boomerang  that arced through the air at Undyne’s head but she knocked it away with a swipe of her spear then threw her weapon at the intruder.

            But with an impossible speed he jumped over the spear at it embedded itself into the ground where he’d been. He flipped through the air like a trained acrobat and slammed his feet into her chest, knocking her sprawling. Undyne growled as she got up and summoned another spear, dropping her human disguise and letting dark blue scales form over her body while sharp yellow teeth formed in her mouth, clenched in anger.

            He jumped high again and tried to vault over her head but she jumped too and bashed her head into his midriff, knocking the wind out of him. He landed with a crash and let out a ragged gasp as he reached into his belt for another weapon but Undyne stabbed the tip of her spear into his arm. “Hold it right there, pal,” she growled warningly. “Who are you, and what are you doing here? What’s in there that you want so bad?”

            “Simply my family’s property,” the man answered. “It’s a powerful weapon, but you have my word that if I’m allowed to take it and nothing else, I’ll leave you in peace.”

            “Bullshit!” Undyne spat. “If you were so peaceful why would you be breaking in to steal it?!”

            “If **you** are so peaceful,” he countered, “why are you hiding yourselves here, training monster children to enter human society without being detected?” Then suddenly he whipped a vial at her that shattered against her chest and sprayed a cloud of fluid all over her body. Undyne cried out as it burned against her scales.

            The intruder slipped out from under the point of her spear but Undyne gritted her sharp teeth and flung herself at him, summoning another spear and throwing both after him as he got to his feet. He threw another vial at her face and she just turned to catch it on the cheek below her eyepatch. Steam rose from her scales but she just threw spear after spear, forcing him back away from the door he was trying to get into.

            “You’ll have to do better than that!” Undyne screamed and released a storm of glowing spears that embedded themselves in the floor as they pushed the intruder back, further back, further back. She blocked out the pain of whatever he’d thrown on her that burned away at her scales, focusing only on summoning more spears.

            Not all that long ago, she’d hunted another human relentlessly, intending to destroy him and use his soul to ensure her people’s freedom. Like everyone else in the underground Undyne had been taught that humans were the enemy, who’d do anything to kill and keep down monsters like her and the ones she was supposed to protect. But that one had been the exception…he didn’t harm any of the monsters he met, only wanting to escape the underground and make it back to his home. He’d been the one to free Undyne and all of the other trapped monsters.

            That human had taught her, had taught all of them, that not all humans were their enemy. She thought of Frisk and felt she should be going easy on the intruder…he’d said he had no violent intentions for the school. But she knew what was inside there, and that it could never be given to someone who might use it against her kind.

            He unfolded another cross boomerang in each hand, thicker and heavier than before, and threw them at her in different directions. Undyne sent one of her spears whirling at the one to her right but the intruder’s weapon cut right through it. She ducked as she threw another spear at the other boomerang, the first whistling past her head and burying its tip three inches deep in the wall. As the second one came at her Undyne yelled at the top of her lungs and stabbed the tip of her spear against the center of the spinning weapon and sent it spinning up into the ceiling.

            As the intruder readied another weapon suddenly something rolled into his back and knocked him down, but he vaulted off his hands and landed in a crouch. His attacker, a woman with a cloud of bright blue hair atop her head and patches of white fur on her skin, wasn’t done with him yet. She pounced on him in a flurry of kicks and punches, flailing giant claws at the ends of all four limbs at him.

            But even though Felicia attacked with blinding speed he reacted faster than any human should’ve been able to, thrusting his elbow against her wrist just in time to knock away the worst of her swipe, twisting his body in time to avoid it as she scraped at his legs with her feet.

            Undyne charged into the fray and grabbed the intruder by the shoulders but he suddenly dropped to his knees and somersaulted out from between her and Felicia, leaving Undyne holding his jacket.

            “Not bad,” the intruder said in what sounded like actual approval. “But that’s my property in there. I’m sorry it had to come to this.” Suddenly he threw a handful of red dust into air, then snapped his fingers and sent out a spark, and a second later the chamber was engulfed in flame.

 

XXX

 

            It didn’t take a genius to figure out the doors that had been blown off their hinges were where someone had tried to invade. Nigeki sucked in a deep breath and started down the stairs even as a second blast shook the stairs under his feet.

            “You don’t have to do this,” a soft voice called from behind him, and he didn’t need to turn around to know it belonged to Kurumu.

            “Yes, I do,” he replied. “Doing something about my problems is the only thing that’s been working.”

            “Who says this is **your** problem?” she protested. She looked up as Enrique walked past her and then past Nigeki.

            He looked back over his shoulder at both of them as the ground shook again. “I think he says that,” Enrique replied, his complexion already turning green as he took on his true from. “Just like I’m gonna do.” Fins sprouted from his back and as he jogged down the stairs before another blast came. Nigeki was about to follow him but Kurumu grabbed him by the arm.

            “Please don’t go…I’d go crazy if you got hurt,” Kurumu pleaded quietly.

            He gently pulled his arm away from hers and patted her on the head. “Thank you, Kurumu, for worrying about me. But just sitting around ignoring my problems was only making them worse. If I do that now it’ll probably just be even easier to ignore a problem the next time one happens. I **do** have to do this.”

            Then he ran down the stairs and through a maze of halls, following the sounds of a scuffle his keen predator’s ears picked up. In a minute he could see the dying glow of a fire from a room up ahead, and his stomach clenched at the thought of what that might mean.

            The hall opened up into a wider room where a wall of flame had ripped through the middle of it but was quickly dying down. Behind it lay a woman with an eyepatch and covered in blue scales, trying desperately to crawl away from the heat. He saw Felicia jump over what was left of it, ignoring burnt patches on her skin and hair to hurl herself at someone dressed all in black. But she wasn’t moving with the lightning speed she’d had when she was knocking Nigeki around earlier, and the man grabbed her wrists as she tried to slash at his face and flipped her over his head.

            As he did Enrique lunged out of the shadows and sprayed a cloud of thick purple gas out of his gills into the man’s face, but the man held his breath and headbutted Enrique through the cloud, dazing him for the second it took for the man to knock him down with his giant fists pressed together.

            And then the man turned to face Nigeki.

            His fiery red hair framing a face that was unafraid even in the face of attack by multiple monsters. His tall, wide frame that seemed to automatically denote power even to an apex predator like Nigeki. The steely glint in his grey eyes as he stared Nigeki down, betraying no emotion.

            “BELMONT!” Nigeki exclaimed, remembering the name on the screen in the AGES base.

            “Ah, it IS you,” the man replied quietly. “Your face…I remember seeing just before I was awoken.”

            “Bel…Belmont?” Enrique sputtered. “A real Belmont?...Here?!”

            “Who are you, human??” Felicia demanded.

            He closed his eyes before he answered, speaking distantly, like a time long forgotten. “Once…I was known as a fierce hunter of monsters. I was called Simon Belmont. And it seems I have been called back to do so once again.

            “And you have my apologies, but I need that weapon and I’ve spent long enough discussing my past with you,” he said and a hand whipped to his belt for another weapon.

            “ **Henshin!** ” Nigeki yelled and the room seemed to explode with crimson light from the force of his transformation. Before it had even cleared Bloodstone was tackling Simon, but the monster hunter amazingly didn’t go down, and grabbed Bloodstone by the shoulders as they struggled back and forth across the room.

            Suddenly Simon landed a fierce kick on Bloodstone’s unarmored midriff and before the surprised vampire could recover, his opponent jumped and landed a spinning kick to the back of his head. “There’s no way a human could be so strong!” he exclaimed.

            Simon sighed. “Indeed, they say I’ve become more than I ever was. But apparently this is the weapon of the modern monster hunter,” he replied, and held up a golden Rosario that he slammed into a slit on the top of his belt buckle.

            As he did it expanded outward into a box-like device engraved with crude images of angels wielding flaming swords flanking the Rosario in the middle. Plates of glistening grey armor appeared and locked onto Simon’s body, red edging painting itself along the cuffs of his heavy gauntlets and boots, and along the edges of a visor the color of dark gold above a flat silver mouthplate. A golden flair in the shape of a cross appeared on the forehead of his helmet and matching the emblem of a cross that formed on his chestplate. Mounted on the back of each gauntlet was a thick round pod, each engraved with images of weapons; a sword, a battleaxe, a cross-shaped boomerang like he’d used before, a torch, a bullwhip made of chain links…

            “They call it ‘Revenant’,” he said. “And it seems an appropriate enough name.”

            “We won’t let you get what you want,” Enrique snarled and charged Simon, or now Revenant. His powerful webbed hands seized Revenant by the shoulders and hurled him into the air, then caught the armored figure and held him over his head when Revenant came back down. Enrique’s clawed fingers sent sparks flying from the armor as he raked them across it, but suddenly Revenant aimed his fists at Enrique and sprayed him down with short jets of water.

            Enrique cried out as electric arcs jumped over his body and he fell to his scaled knees. Revenant rolled off him and ran for the huge doors on the other side of the room. “Blessed water…,” Enrique gasped. “But that won’t keep a merman down for long!”

            “You misunderstand me again, child,” Revenant said. “I was going easy on you, you are after all merely a child. Fighting is not your business.”

            “I’ll show you what my business is!” Enrique roared and went into a screwdriver kick, his extended feet aimed at Revenant’s midsection. The armored intruder just stood his ground and let Enrique collide with him before the pod on his arm dropped a long black rod into his hand.

            “ **AXE** ,” it spoke and the other pod detached from his wrist and flipped open into a pair of gleaming curved blades that attached to the top of the rod and that Revenant used to swat Enrique aside. The merman tumbled through the air and hit the wall with a sickening splat, his fin bent above his head.

            Revenant turned and swung his axe at the doors he’d been trying to get into, but as Bloodstone rushed forward to press the attack he was sure he heard, “You have my pity, child.” The room shook with a noise like thunder as his axe hit the seam between the doors and bounced off an invisible barrier. He swung again and a web of cracks spread from where he’d hit. Bloodstone lunged for him as Revenant’s arm lashed out a third time…

            …and Bloodstone grabbed his arm and with an awkward, shaky judo flip heaved Revenant over his head. Revenant landed on his back with a crash but rolled to his feet. Bloodstone went into a stance, but realized he still had no idea what abilities he had now. If he even had any without being combined now!

            Revenant hurled his axe and Bloodstone instinctively ducked to avoid it, but a second too late, he realized he wasn’t the target.

            The axe slammed into the doors, and the barrier in front of them shattered with a deafening crash of glass.

 

XXX

 

            Kurumu froze at the at the entrance as she thought about if she should keep going closer to the fight. If she **could** keep going closer to the fight. She’d hardly done anything when they’d gone to save Nigeki from the Security Committee. And now, it was someone Felicia was afraid of letting them anywhere near.

            Her stomach clenched at the thought of anything happening to Nigeki…but then she thought of how far his powers reached, and how she’d probably only get in his way. But if she didn’t, who would hate her more, Nigeki or herself?

            Then a sound like a thousand windows exploding out at once ripped across the room and Kurumu screamed, her wings and tail extending out in fright. She peeked around the corner and saw Revenant throw open the giant doors and run over to a pedestal with something in a white glass box on top of it.

            “ **PURIFY** ,” his belt called out and a watery blast came from both of his wrists, washing over the box which sparked a few times then collapsed like paper under the assault of holy water. Inside was a long coil of something dark with a glistening iron handle.

            “A whip…”

            Felicia came flying at him like a blue-and-white yowling missile, battering his arms and shoulders with her claws and then hooking her long, supple legs around his waist so he couldn’t knock her away as she kept up her assault. Bloodstone ran up and launched a jump kick that knocked Revenant rolling away from the whip.

            But Revenant rebounded with a feline agility rivalling Felicia’s own and slammed his giant armored first into Bloodstone’s midriff where his own protection was the weakest. The vampire gasped in pain and went down. The light from the jewel in his belt seemed to flicker.

            Kurumu held out the orb she’d been sent, the one that was supposed to allow her to combine with Bloodstone into a single, greater monster. But as she thought about using it, the color seemed to drain from it through the bottom, turning completely clear.

            Felicia and Bloodstone got up and rained blows on Revenant as he walked through their assault back toward the whip again, the tiny cuts and dents from their blows actually seeming to heal themselves in front of Kurumu’s terrified eyes. Revenant swatted Felicia away with a swipe from one fist and then brought his elbow down on Bloodstone between the shoulders, flooring him.

Suddenly a glowing spear came rocketing out of nowhere and slammed into Revenant’s back and knocking him to the ground with a cry of surprise. Undyne had gotten back to her feet, and ten more spears like that were hovering over her head.

“NO!” Felicia screamed and grabbed her. “You’ll hit the kid too!”

Undyne grunted in anger and shoved her away. “No I won’t! I know what I’m doing!” she yelled and loosed the spears, but Felicia grabbed her again and they went flying chaotically around the room. Enrique ducked as three spun through the air and nearly impaled him, two more skimmed Revenant’s armored shoulders and stopped him in his tracks for a second. Another went plunging for Bloodstone’s throat and Kurumu gasped in horror, clutching her orb and focusing on nothing but the thought of combining, of gifting him her power to survive that certain death attack…!

“ **Blizzard Heart! Synch!** ”

The young succubus opened her eyes, wondering if she’d done it, but she was still there by the entrance. And Bloodstone’s armor had turned white, with a cone of frost spewing from his fingers and freezing Undyne’s spear into broken shards. Then he lashed out with his icy fist and smashed a punch into Revenant’s chest that knocked the surprised intruder back a step.

“ **Freeze Bomber!** ” Bloodstone’s belt exclaimed as  swung his warm at Revenant and peppered the air with giant hunks of ice. Revenant was already running, dodging the worst of the frozen shots but staggering badly as one caught him between the shoulders. He staggered, limped for a second but took a long jump and landed next to the whip. The last of Bloodstone’s ice bullets shattered against the wall next to him as he touched it, and it glowed and faded into the pod on one wrist.

“Put that back now,” Bloodstone commanded in a voice with a slight reverberation.

“Never, monster,” Revenant replied. “This is **my** family’s property, as I said. You have my word I will not use it on you.”

“That’s not good enough,” Bloodstone countered. “What about other monsters?”

“What **about** other monsters?” Revenant immediately retorted. “Don’t pretend none of them have ever been a threat to mankind.”

“One last chance,” Bloodstone warned.

“Consider it ignored,” Revenant replied.

“ **Fenrir Fanger!** ” Bloodstone jammed his fist forward, glowing with icy power. A spear of white ripped from his knuckles at Revenant, who swung his own arm through the air. A length of whip whistled through the air, extending out from the pod on his wrist and smashing right through Bloodstone’s attack. It snapped back into its housing but Revenant swung again and it snaked out to strike Bloodstone on the shoulder.

The vampire howled with pain as the armor splintered, with crackles of dark power running across his flesh. Bloodstone sank to his knees, seeming for a second to blur and almost split into two people. But then he snarled in rage and solidified again. He rose to his feet, already glowing with the power of his next attack.

But Revenant had another Rosario in his hand, one made of pure silver. He pressed a button in the center and the Rosario whirled into the air behind him where it formed a shining gate in the air in the shape of a cross. “Not today, vampire,” he said. “But if you attack me again, then we shall have to see…” Then he jumped through the gate which closed behind him with a sound like thunder.

 

XXX

 

With their enemy gone, Bloodstone released his transformation and unfused back into Nigeki and Mizore, who wore a slight smile on her face.

“I…thought you were mad,” Nigeki said hesitatingly.

“I was,” she said and rolled her orb in her fingers for a second before putting it away. “I thought this meant we were in love…but even if it doesn’t, I know it means I have a head start.”

He had to nod at that. “Well, yeah. You’ve done some pretty amazing things for me, Mizore.”

“Not as amazing as **I’m** gonna do,” someone declared, and they both looked up to see Kurumu standing there, a gaze of cold fury focused on an unaffected Mizore.

“How about you **all** explain what the hell you’re doing down here,” interrupted a sharp female voice as Felicia appeared, seeming to have doubled in height in her anger. “I told you to go back to your rooms where it was safe!”

Nigeki quivered, but swallowed hard and managed to say, “I…I! I told you, Bast-sensei, I can’t run away from my problems anymore. They just get bigger the longer I take to deal with them.”

With a sigh Felicia turned away. “You might be right about that, I guess. Doesn’t mean I have to like it when kids decide to fight, though.”

“It’s our future even more than it is yours,” Mizore said suddenly. Felicia whipped around and stared at her for a second, then laughed.

Someone stomped the ground next to them for their attention and they looked over to see Undyne fixing them with her single yellow eye, armed folded in front of her chest. “You know, this is all touching and crap like that, but that guy got the magic sealed weapon he was after. And he got it and got away, because all of you guys showed up out of nowhere and we started tripping all over ourselves.” She sighed in irritation and turned away. “I can see just how bad I need a need to start training a new crew.”

 

XXX

 

Eventually Nigeki managed to peel away from the others and get back to the dorms, flopping onto his futon in the middle of the room. A million things were on his mind, that Simon Belmont was back, and had stolen his family’s enchanted whip from under the school.

            But after his meeting with the Headmaster earlier, he decided that kind of thing was being looked after at a level far above him. Instead, he got out his phone and dialed down his contact list.

            “Hello?”

            “Mills, what in the hell did you think you were sending every single person I know one of those jewels that let them combine with me??” Nigeki demanded the second his brother answered.

            His reply was a soft laugh. “I was giving them a choice you wouldn’t have, little brother. You want to keep your friends from getting hurt, I’m sure, but some big shit’s coming. People have to get **involved** , and the sooner the better.”

            “I’m getting involved,” Nigeki replied cooll.

            “It ain’t your only surprise, little brother,” Mills said teasingly. “We had something dropped off behind your dorm too. Go check it out.”

            “But I just got up here. And you wouldn’t believe the night I’ve had…”

            “I bet I would,” Mills countered. “Go check it out. I need to go talk to dad…you can thank us later.” Then he hung up.

            For a few minutes Nigeki tried to decide if he was too tired to go look into his brother’s claim or not. But when he tried to close his eyes and not deal with anything until the morning an itch to know what else Mills had been up to seemed to scratch at the back of his mind.

            A little while later Nigeki walked out to the small clearing behind the boys’ dorm. In the fading light he almost failed to see it for a second, the darkness of its color seeming to drink in all the light around it.

            It was a low, powerful-looking racing bike, covered in light armor plating that made it look like nothing but a shadow until he spent a bit studying the shape.

            Everything about it gleamed like new, and when Nigeki ran his finger over the finish he was amazed to see his skin left no smudge on it. In a compartment behind the ridged leather seat Nigeki found a message: “This is even faster than it looks…should help you get wherever your new boss needs you to go. We guarantee it’ll survive you learning how to ride it, too. Enjoy, little brother!”

            And down at the bottom of the note was a word he assumed was the bike’s name: CROSSBOW.

            Well, it seemed official now.

            He was a real Kamen Rider.

                       

XXX

 

            **Well, that was WAY too long in the making. Here it is, and hopefully it’s worth the wait…kinda long, but I believe in giving characters their space to exist.**

**Sadly I’m going to have to put Bloodstone away for a little while now…the idea I had for the next big plot even doesn’t really seem feasible now. Well, still feasible, but needing to be more prominent than I figured it before, and that means finding something better to fill the space. While I’m working on that I think it’s about time to start on the Tarock “movie” I’ve had in mind for a while.**

 

**Thanks to DiscontentCat for helping me brainstorm the new character’s Rider name, even if I ended up using one of my own.**


	7. Find Your Place

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 18 – Find Your Place**

The characters and numbers started to swim in front of Nigeki’s eyes. He reached up and tried to knuckle the feeling away, but as he did another loud thump from the room next door and this time the impression of someone’s face actually appeared against his wall. Even through his earplugs he could hear the boys next door acting out the wrestling match thundering out of the speakers hooked up to their TV. Idly he wondered if having his own TV at school would be nice, but he wasn’t supposed to be showing off his status or drawing attention to himself at school…

            That was part of the reason why he’d been studying in his room, though. Or trying to. He wasn’t the most popular kid on campus after he’d been exposed as a “Kamen Rider,” the scourge of monsters. When he’d tried to catch up on his pile of make-up schoolwork somewhere communal he’d been shoved out of his seat by a smirking brown-haired boy with a lip stud…

 

XXX

 

            Saizou Komiya. They’d met once, although thanks to the Headmaster, Saizou had forgotten most of the details aside from being scared out of his mind. Now, there was nothing Nigeki could do to deny his nature.

            “Whatcha studying for there, **Rider**?” Saizou had jeered. “Traitor entrance exams?”

            “I didn’t fight anyone who didn’t have it coming,” Nigeki mumbled, trying to remember the justification his brother Mills had helped him arrive at when he’d had to kill a powerful and relentless opponent. Saizou wasn’t much of the first thing, but he was starting to become the second.

            “Oh yeah, we all believe that from a monster-killer!” Saizou sneered and shoved Nigeki again. Nigeki got up only for Saizou to shove him again a few steps back.

            It seemed idiotic. Nigeki **had** fought other monsters from around campus, and some of them would’ve swatted Saizou like a fly. But that seemed to be it: Nigeki couldn’t, **wouldn’t** do that now. The vampire had a hell of a reputation to live down, and Saizou was rubbing his face in it.

            “Um! Cut it out,” someone said. Saizou looked over his shoulder at short, slightly pudgy woman with glasses and swooped-back blonde hair. It was Alphys, their Human Studies teacher. She flinched as Saizou narrowed his eyes at her, but with a quivering hand reached into her purse and pulled out a small purple and black action figure that Nigeki remembered her showing off in class once.

            “Cut it out or what, teach?” Saizou asked, a menacing undertone creeping into his voice. He was a bully, but even he wasn’t crazy enough to try and start something with a teacher. Not even a teacher like Alphys…was he?

            “Cut it out or…or I’ll ask my girlfriend to make you,” Alphys said, but she couldn’t work any malice into it.

            “Ha!” Saizou jeered.

            Suddenly a loud metal ringing cut the air suddenly. A woman wearing an eyepatch and carrying a long spear that she’d smacked against a wall to get their attention was standing there. “Do we have a problem here?” asked Undyne, head of campus security.

            “Yeah, we got a problem!” Saizou scoffed. “You guys are letting a Kamen Rider on campus! It’s your job to keep them out, isn’t it?!”

            Undyne let the spear fade away. “Kid,” she said simply, “get out of here before you embarrass yourself.”

            “Well, nice to know the person keeping the school safe obviously knows what she’s doing!” Saizou retorted.

            But she was completely stoic. “ **Now** , Komiya.” His mouth fell open. “That’s right, I know who you are. And I hear the stupid jokes kids like you make about me because of this.” She pointed to her eyepatch. “But I promise you, I see **everything**. Now I’m gonna tell you again, get out of here before she **does** ask me to make you cut it out.”

            Saizou scowled but gave Nigeki one last shove and walked away, casting an angry glare over one shoulder as he did. Undyne smiled and waved as he left, flashing a smile of yellow needle-like teeth. Once he was gone she turned to face Alphys and Nigeki. “You two okay?”

            “I’m okay!” Alphys almost shrieked. Undyne gave her an uncertain look and Alphys’s cheeks turned pink at her outburst. “I mean…I’m fine. Besides, I have Mettaton-Chibi here to protect me.”

            “I’ve thrown down with nastier things than a punk like him,” Nigeki sighed, brushing himself off.

            Undyne nodded. “That’s what I hear. But that’s not what I asked. I asked if you were okay.”

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Buried in homework, but I’m fine,” Nigeki answered.

            “Hmmm…hey Alphy, sounds like someone needs a tutor,” Undyne suggested with a grin, running her fingers through Alphys’s hair, which only made Alphys squeak in embarrassment and cover her face in her hands. “She’d love to,” Undyne smirked.

            “Mmm-Mmmm!” Alphys grunted in dissent.

            Nigeki gathered up his books and started away. “I appreciate it, but I really just need some privacy to catch up on all this homework,” he said.

            “Think about it, kid. Maybe she’s kind of shy, but she’s **really** smart,” Undyne called after him.

            “I’ve got a lot of things to think about already,” Nigeki mumbled.

XXX

 

            He sighed as the walls shook again. The pile of work he had to make up hadn’t shrunk at all, but if Nigeki tried to go out and study again he had a feeling he’d run into someone else with a bone to pick with him. Saizou and the other bullies he’d beat down weren’t the only ones out there. But if he wanted to stay at Youkai Academy, and keep in touch with the friends he’d made while he was here, then he was going to have to keep on top of his studies. And that wasn’t an easy thing to do with a bunch of noisy neighbors.

            With a sigh of resignation Nigeki gathered up his materials and walked out the front of his dorm. He walked over to the campus library, predator instincts primed in case more of his non-fans noticed him and tried to start something.

            Suddenly he felt a weird tingle in the air that all of his senses told him didn’t belong in this world. Then there was a loud *POP* and a huge wreath of flowers, so big it completely surrounded Nigeki as it felt to the ground around him, appeared out of thin air. From a pair of tree branches unfurled two giant scrolls: WELCOME HOME NIGEKI!

            From behind the corner of the girls’ dorm stepped a girl entirely too young to be at that school, wearing a witch’s pointed hat and a blinding smile on her young face. “HI!” she exclaimed.

            And in spite of everything he’d been going through, putting up with noisy neighbors and punks like Saizou Komiya, knowing AGES had a Kamen Rider of their own, his drama with his family…Nigeki found himself laughing. “Hello, Yukari. Thanks for the warm welcome back,” he said to the young witch.

Immediately his arms were pinned to his sides as she glomped him, bopping him upside the head with her wand and spilling his books and papers all over the sidewalk as she did. “I knew you’d like it!” she gushed, eyes squeezed shut in joy at seeing him again. It had been such a long time since they’d really talked, hadn’t it?

            Then Moka Akashiya, his fellow vampire, stepped into view, smiling faintly. But as she tried without success to pry Yukari’s arms off him, her smile was a bit worried. “Yukari, I think you can let go now. I think we caught him right in the middle of something…”

            Yukari looked up at Nigeki, but didn’t loosen her grip. “Huh? We did? What?...OH! You have so much homework!” the witch declared, looking at the field of paper, schoolbooks and notebooks around Nigeki’s feet.

            “You know, I was really expecting the opposite of this,” Nigeki observed.

            “The opposite? What do you mean?” Moka asked.

            “I mean the last time I tried to study outside my room, that guy who started shit with you on the first day tried to attack me,” Nigeki replied. Yukari finally let go and he bent down to start picking up his study materials, but she snatched them away from him and started piling the papers up in her own arms, flicking through them and rearranging them at lightning speed. It took him a second to realize she was organizing them.

            As soon as he’d realized that she’d picked up every single scrap of his catchup homework and held it in the crook of one elbow, and grabbed him by the wrist and started leading him away. “Let’s go!” the witch beamed.

            Nigeki took an awkward step after her. “Um, where?” he asked.

            “Studying, of course!” Yukari grinned. “We’ll get this knocked out in no time! Then maybe we can study something like…kissing?” she looked over her shoulder at him, her face pink at her own suggestion.

            “What?? Yukari! Slow down…” Nigeki almost pleaded.

            She didn’t.

 

XXX

 

            A little while later they’d found a table to themselves in the back of the school library. A few other students shot annoyed looks their way, especially when they saw him with a pair of cute girls, but none of them did anything else.

“How does it look???” Yukari asked, a bright expectant smile on her face as she shoved a sheet of paper into Nigeki’s.

            “It looks great, I think?” he replied as he took it, and noticed it was a less plan. “You looked through all that and made this whole thing just now??”

            “Guess she didn’t skip four grades for nothing,” Moka observed. “Maybe it’s good for her. She’s been finishing all her homework so fast she’s had a lot of free time. She’s gotten hooked on some anime she got from one of the teachers…Mew Mew Kiss or something.”

            Nigeki laughed a little at Moka’s update, and she smiled a little sheepishly. “Sounds like a real winner,” Nigeki replied. “Wasn’t that the show that used to air in Magical Detective Loveline’s slot?”

            Moka knitted her brow. “You watch that show?”

            “With my little sisters sometimes, yes.”

Suddenly she slid one dainty hand over Nigeki’s. “I’m…really glad you’re back,” she said, taking a minute to find the right words. “I was… **we** were all worried when you were gone for so long. Is everything okay?”

            He looked her in the eye, and managed a gentle smile. “I think I’m kind of getting used to it. Yeah, there’s some danger sometimes, but it’s a hell of a lot better than just sitting around and hoping the problems go away.”

            Moka nodded, and Nigeki blinked in confusion as she looked away, cheeks and ears turning pink. “I think I know how you feel,” she whispered. “I almost wish I got to go with you.”

            He put his other hand on top of Moka’s, not noticing the cheeky grin forming on Yukari’s face as she watched. “Well, getting to go to a school with other kids is kind of like an adventure too, right? I don’t know. It’s kind of nice having a good outlet for my power, but it’s nice to have someplace with people who are looking forward to you coming back.”

            Moka nodded and smiled, leaning in. “I know **exactly** how you feel there…but shouldn’t we get your make-up work done?”

            A trickle of drool ran down Yukari’s chin as she watched them talk. Finally they were back together, and finally they were moving their relationship along again. It was only a matter of time before the three of them were all one loving union…

            “Yeah, I guess so,” Nigeki said, sounding a little disappointed. He picked up one sheaf of papers and opened it up. He looked over at Moka again with an encouraging smile, but as she met it with another smile suddenly the red “eye” in the middle of her Rosario erupted with a bright glow. Moka gasped and her breathing turned strained as if she was being choked for a second.

            “MOKA!” Nigeki yelled and put an arm around her shoulders supportively, not even noticing how every eye in the room was suddenly on them. “What’s wrong? Yukari, can you tell?!”

            But Moka tapped him on the shoulder with her palm. “No, it’s all right. She wants to talk to you. The other me…I mean, the other Moka.”

           

XXX

 

            The tip of Yukari’s wand gave off a soft glow from the heart-shaped tip, while Nigeki’s own predatory senses shifted to compensate for the darkness out behind the library. Moka stood a few feet away from them, hands cupped around her Rosario, waiting for Nigeki to make the next move.

            But Yukari tapped him on the shoulder with her wand. “I don’t know if you should do this,” she whispered warningly. “Monster Moka’s really strong and scary…she might break you in half!”

            “I don’t think she will,” Nigeki answered, remembering the odd look she gave him when they fought Kuyou and right before she sealed herself again, like she’d been rethinking her opinion of him. At least, that’s what he’d thought at the time. Hoped for, maybe.

            Yukari jumped in front of him, throwing her arms wide. “But what if she **does**? I’ll never know true love! I’ll never become a real woman! I’ll never—”

            The vampire put his hands on her shoulders. “Yukari, what are you talking about?”

            She threw her arms around his waist. “I love you!” she exclaimed.

            “Yukari…no,” Nigeki said and stepped away. He sank to his knees to look her in the eyes and put his hands reassuringly on her shoulders. “It’s just way too soon.”

            “You mean because I’m little?!” the witch protested indignantly.

            “I mean because it’s too soon. It’s just way too soon,” Nigeki replied gently. “I’m flattered, but you hardly know me yet. Let’s hang out a little more first, okay?”

            Yukari stuck her lip out in a furious pout, but her face softened after a second as she realized what that meant: more time hanging out with him. “Okay, okay, I guess…but be careful with her, please? Or I’ll never forgive you!”

            Nigeki chuckled. “I promise. But I don’t think I’ll be in much position to worry about that if she kicks my head off.” Then he stood up and walked over to where Moka was standing.

            She turned to face him, pink hair swirling in the air for a second. “I’m ready,” she whispered.

            “Are you sure?” Nigeki whispered back. “It looks like it hurts whenever the Rosario unlocks…”

            “It’s okay!” Moka assured him, trying to force a smile. “It’s more surprising than painful!” Nigeki looked at her uncertainly for another second, then reached out and grasped the Rosario. Immediately a rush of power shot through both of them with the Bloodstone flashing into sight around Nigeki’s waist for just a second before they were thrown apart.

            The Rosario seemed ominously cold in his hand as he looked up and saw Moka standing over him. The **real** Moka Akashiya, he supposed, the powerful and ruthless vampire, ice-white hair blowing in a sudden wind. Nigeki rose to his feet. “I’m here,” he said simply. “You wanted to talk?”

            She fixed him with both ruby-red eyes, seeming to cut through him like laser beams. “Maybe,” she replied. “If you can keep up.” And with that she became a white blur leaping out of sight through the treetops. Nigeki looked back at Yukari, who gave him a nervous nod, before he went speeding into the treetops after her.

 

XXX

 

            Nigeki stopped a minute later on a branch halfway up a tree. He pressed himself against the trunk as he looked around to try and spot any trace of Moka. He wasn’t really sure what to make of her proud inner self, or of what she could possibly want to talk about all of a sudden.

            It was his ears that picked her up first, a faint rustling in the trees off to his right before she suddenly came flying through the air at him like a giant white spear, slamming her knee into his chest and sending him spinning off the branch he was on. His predator instincts kicked in and he reached out to snatch a lower branch and pull himself up, but it was another minute before he caught his breath and could see Moka standing on another tree nearby. The wind seemed to pick up again, tossing her hair and pulling her skirt and indecently high, showing a different flash of white every few seconds.

            “Why do you do it?” she asked him, almost making him jump in surprise at the suddenness of her words. “Why do you hide from your strength? Haven’t you mastered your darkness by now?”

            “I don’t know yet,” Nigeki answered. “And what does that even mean? Do you think I should use the Bloodstone all the time or something? I can’t, it would even kill one of us if it was overused.”

            “Do you know that for a fact?” she asked.

            “Do I **look** dead to you?” Nigeki asked incredulously.

            An amused smirk formed on the corner of Moka’s impassive face. “You’re avoiding the question,” she replied.

            “And what is the question?”

            “Are you that damaged, little boy?” she said. “Is that belt of yours the only way you can be strong, or is there a salvageable vampire in you somewhere after all?”

            He pushed off the branch he was on and dropped to the ground as gracefully as he could, superhuman reflexes guiding him to a gentle stop in a crouch. Moka landed across from him a second later, not even making a sound as she landed too. “What do you even care?” Nigeki sighed in exasperation. “You’re actually locked up by this,” he said, holding up the Rosario. “Even tighter than I was.”

            Suddenly she sprinted across the space between him and grabbed him by the shoulders, pressing him against the trunk of the tree, but not nearly as hard as he’d been expecting. She fixed him with her gleaming red eyes. “Maybe I’d enjoy myself a little when I’m out if I had a worthy rival, someone who could really give me a run for my money. Maybe if they did, I’d show them a thing or two about how a real vampire fights,” she answered. “Think about it.” Before he could reply she snatched the Rosario out of his hand and locked it into her choker again.

            The gentle outer Moka, restored to control, looked over her shoulder at Nigeki and started back toward school. Not knowing what to say after what the other Moka had said, Nigeki followed her back in silence.

 

XXX

 

            The next day the Drama Club met, and Nigeki wasn’t surprised an understudy had been appointed for his role in the play they were working on. He was a little surprised to find out who it was: Enrique Sakamoto, the Brazilian boy and secretly a fishman who was apparently a son of one of a group of legendary monsters, the Darkstalkers.

            “No offense,” Nigeki began, “but aren’t they kind of worried of setting the opposite mood with you starring in the play? Get the feeling the Phantom would get a lot of wet panties thrown at him instead…”

            Enrique laughed at the remark. “You’re not so bad-looking either, you know,” but then just smiled and innocently asked, “What?” at the strange look Nigeki gave him.

            “You’re like that?”

            “Maybe,” Enrique replied with a mischievous grin. Nigeki looked hard down at his script at that remark. “What?” Enrique persisted. “I making you uncomfortable being around someone who might like guys?”

            “Do you?” Nigeki asked without looking up.

            “Maybe,” Enrique answered him again with another grin.

            Nigeki cut in, “Look, let me see you do this part here, okay? After Erik takes Christine into the catacombs and is in the boat back to his lair—”

            But Enrique reached out and pushed the script away from him. “What is with you? Are you really that worked up over what I said?”

            “I notice you didn’t say ‘the joke I made,’ ” Nigeki said, still not meeting his eyes and gazing out the window instead.

            Enrique said nothing about that. “Are you all right? You seem totally wound up today.”

            Finally Nigeki turned and looked him in the eye again, and for just a second there was a crimson gleam in them that made the Brazilian take a step back. “I’m just thinking about something a girl said to me,” Nigeki admitted.

            “You had a lot of them coming to help you when you got in trouble before,” Enrique commented with a cautious smile. “What did she say?”

            “She wants to see if I can do something. Something intense…she wants a rival,” Nigeki answered distantly. “I’m wondering if I should.”

 

XXX

 

            It was a strange sensation Simon Belmont had as he stepped from the glass tube, the colorful fluid he’d been covered in a second ago draining away. It was like being born, he thought, but he’d already gone through that again recently.

            Still, the treatments, whatever they were, seemed to be working. His muscles were tighter and heavier than they’d been even when he fought his way into Castlevania the first time. Whatever was happening when he was bathed in those liquids, it was making him stronger every time, and it wasn’t as if he didn’t feel like he could beat any monster already.

            He picked up and put on the pile of strange clothes he’d been given, something his host called a “tee-shirt” and “blue jeans”. Once he’d put them on the door into the room rose into the wall and in came a man wearing a suit as dark as his neatly-trimmed beard. “How are you reacting to your treatments, Simon?” he asked cordially, but Simon couldn’t help noticing there was nothing friendly about it, his tone was all business. Still, he supposed it was to be expected. Robert Blacher had brought him back to life to do a job, not because he was lonely.

            “Very well, I think. I feel like I’ve got the strength of ten men.”

            “More like eight and a half, but we’ll get you there,” Blacher replied. “Are you used to your new weapons? Gotten the hang of your whip again?”

            “Yes, I have,” Simon assured him. “I certainly hope you aren’t expecting me to use it on _children,_ Blacher,” he added pointedly.

            Blacher shook his head. “No, Simon. You were revived to help us protect humanity from the worst of threats, and we’ve found one.” Simon raised an eyebrow and nodded for his host to go on, which Blacher did. “We’ve managed to discover a group of powerful monsters with an extremely dangerous plan in mind.”

            “Oh? What is this plan?”

            Blacher was silent for a minute before he answered. Simon was about to ask him what was so dangerous before Blacher suddenly spoke. “They plan to escape from the land of the dead.”

            Simon clenched his fists.

 

XXX

 

            **Here’s another chapter, kind of light but maybe shedding some light on my spin on some of these characters.**

 

            **Since there seems to be some confusion over this, especially after introducing a gimmick from High School DxD, I need to put something to bed: this is going to be a “one girl wins” story. There’s not going to be a harem ending in Kamen Rider Bloodstone, because I find those boring. I’m sorry if that loses me some readers, but that’s how it is. But I don’t expect to have one girl in mind as the final victor throughout the entire series. I’ve already changed my mind once. Might even change it back.**

**On a more positive note, I think I’ve found a good angle to fill out some chapters of this arc before getting to the next big confrontation I’d originally planned for it instead. Bloodstone and Revenant enduring the abuse of the host of a classic VCR horror game. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, even with it being kind of light.**


	8. Yes, My Gatekeeper!

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 19 – Yes, My Gatekeeper!**

The figure in a tattered suit and top hat placed his withered grey hands on his goal. It looked like nothing more than weathered stone dome sticking out of the ground in the middle of the field of broken flagstones. Around the edge were six round niches big enough for a person to stand in, and in the center was a giant black plug.

            “Here it is!” he crowed. “They all doubted me, but here it is! The Well of Fear!”

            “You lie, Samedi,” a bent figure with stringy hair and a beak-like nose croaked at him. “If there was such power here as you claim, even if it was sealed, I could tell!”

Samedi cackled with laughter and whirled around her in a circle, battered top hat in hand. “The greatest seal for the greatest power!” he gave out a dry laugh, and the bent figure growled warningly at him. Undaunted he went on, “And yet the **greatest witch** needs that explained to her?? Guess I’m not surprised!” He spun the brim of his hat on one finger then tossed it into the air where it landed effortlessly atop his skinless head.

She pointed a long, bony finger with a curled black fingernail on the end at him. “You watch your wormy little tongue, wart!” she hissed. “You haven’t earned any status just because you gave yourself a fancy title! My powers are just as great as yours!”

“ **All** of our powers will be unstoppable once we open that,” he pointed to the stone dome with a decayed finger. “I’ll be more than **Baron** Samedi then!”

“And I suppose you have **that** figured out as well,” his companion replied in her dry voice.

“Of course, Madam de Chantraine!” he said, whipping his hat off and moving into a melodramatic bow. A high, snickering laugh filled the air.

She hissed in anger. “Samedi, if this is one of your stupid jokes…!”

But a thunderclap that made the ground itself tremble and shook dust off the Well of Fear was their answer. A voice roared, “You’ve got bigger problems than a stupid joke, **MAGGOTS!** ”

He gave a sniggering laugh, lashing their ears like a whip.

 

xXX

 

Laid out sweating and panting on his futon, Nigeki Hitoribo thrashed back and forth, thumping the floor with his arms and feet as he dreamed.

He was in the forest around the school, a full moon tinged with red hanging in the sky. He spotted someone in the trees and let out a snarl as he broke into a sprint after them, his instincts a wall of screaming voices to pursue, to chase them down and to show them his power. He was a vampire, the mightiest of the creatures of the dark.

His kind were to be respected, a respect born of fear. Fear of their strength, their ability to draw the life out of their victims. The rest of monsterkind **owed** him and his race allegiance. The icy glint of pure, piercing terror in his prey’s eyes as they saw him and realized what he was proved that. He put on a burst of blinding speed and then pounced, knocking them to the ground.

“Not bad,” said a voice behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Moka Akashiya standing there. It was the true Moka, he realized, ivory hair billowing out in the chill wind and her red eyes seeming even brighter in the moonlight. “Crude, but there’s hope for the future.”

Her words snapped him out of the hunter’s frenzy he’d been in, and with fear clenching his heart Nigeki turned back to see just who he’d attacked that had earned the vampiress’s praise…

Then from out of nowhere he heard a deafening pounding and dropped whoever he’d been holding to go into a defensive stance. He looked back and forth trying to spot what new danger could be making the noise.

And then his eyes snapped open when the noise broke through the dream he’d been having. Immediately they snapped shut again from the blinding sunlight pouring through his window. But the pounding on his bedroom door became even louder and more insistent as he groaned and tried to telepathically force whoever it was away.

Realizing it wasn’t going to happen, Nigeki twisted the lock to open it and then suddenly the door exploded open and someone tackled him to the floor. His instincts were shifting to defend himself when he realized his “attacker” was rubbing their cheek against his chest.

“You’re soooooooo waaaaaaaaaarm,” she purred, and then he recognized the cape and pointed hat. “And smooooooooooooth.” That was when he remembered he’d only worn sweat pants to bed.

“Yukari, get off me. Please,” Nigeki squirmed under her but she held on even tighter.

“Nooooooooo!” the witch protested. “We have to get your homework done! You didn’t get any done after you and Moka left!...What did you two need to talk about, anyway?”

“I don’t know what they talked about,” another voice cut in, “But I know what **I**  need to talk to him about.” In the doorway stood a svelte woman with blazing blue hair tied back in a ponytail that only seemed to make her look even more fierce. She whipped off her glasses and looked down at them with mild annoyance. “I ought to report this,” Felicia said without emotion.

“Report **what**?” Nigeki protested. “I told her we’re not a couple!”

“Not yet!” Yukari corrected him. “But I’ll convince you!”

Felicia sighed. “There’s a job for you, kid.”

“Great! Where are we going??” Yukari gushed.

“Not **you** , kid,” Felicia said. “ **Him** , kid.”

Yukari thrust her bottom lip out in her best pout. Felicia gave the hardest unimpressed face Nigeki had ever seen.

 

XXX

 

The hooded figure of the Headmaster wasn’t behind his massive desk as Felicia led the way into his office. Nigeki was about to ask what was going on, but stopped himself when he saw who else was there. Most surprising of all was Moka Akashiya, his fellow vampire, who gave him a soft wave but looked over at the other occupants of the office. Toriel was talking and laughing with another woman, who said something that made the curvaceous Home Ec teacher laugh, her white curls bouncing. As always Nigeki couldn’t help staring at her, and Toriel smiled lightly in embarrasment to see him looking at her so intently.

But talking to Toriel was a girl he’d never seen before, wearing a bright pink kimono. It contrasted with the blue ponytail almost as bright but not nearly as thick as Felicia’s own. Clutched in her hands was n oar. Who was she?

“Ah, is he the one, then?” the girl with the oar asked, patiently but all business. She looked Nigeki up and down and smiled lightly.

“This is him,” Felicia replied. “I want it on record that I’m not in favor of sending him on something this dangerous.”

“Neither am I,” the paddle-wielder replied. “Still, the people I usually enlist aren’t back from their last assignment just yet.” She walked over to Nigeki and bowed. “Nice to meet you, Hitoribo-san. You may call me Botan.”

The vampire nodded at her. “Nice to meet you too, Botan. But what’s so important you came here to find me?”

“Oh, there are a group of dangerous monsters trying to escape from one of the most secure prisons of the spirit realm,” Botan explained casually. Nigeki scratched the back of his head. Was that all?? “And not to sound rude but we need to leave at once. If they succeed, the damage they would do to your secrecy would be irreparable.”

“Look, I’m glad to help, but stopping a bunch of monsters from escaping Hell??” Nigeki asked dubiously. “Isn’t that a little above my experience level?”

Botan’s expression hardened almost imperceptibly at the question; he probably wouldn’t have noticed at all if he hadn’t been born a hunter. “Young man, this is an emergency and I’ve no time for smart remarks!”

“Young man…?” Moka asked. Nigeki had to agree with how weird it sounded: Botan looked like she could be in the same class as the two of them.

“I’m much older than the two of you,” Botan replied, “But there’s no time for lectures. Everyone here has been gathered to help prevent a disaster. Go and get that motorbike your brother made for you. You’ll be needing it to make the crossing into a cordoned off realm like the one we’ll be going to.” With that she opened the windows to the balcony, sat on her oar and floated out toward the quad.

“But what—” Nigeki started to protest, but a warm hand closed gently around his shoulder. A hand covered in soft white fur. Toriel had already dropped her disguise and taken on her goat-like features for what was ahead.

“If there’s an emergency, child, we need to move quickly,” she said softly. “Go and get your motorbike. We’ll meet you outside, all right?”

“…of course,” Nigeki said without any thought at all, then walked out of the room with a powerful stride and a slightly glassy look in his eyes.

            As she watched him go, Moka frowned slightly at his reaction to Toriel’s words.

 

XXX

 

            Nigeki strapped on his helmet from atop the Crossbow, his sleek new motorcycle sent to him by the family. He leaned over the handlebars, but quivered a little as Moka looped her arms around his waist to ride with him.

            “They really asked you to come too?” he whispered over his shoulder.

            “They said you need someone to watch your back,” Moka replied with a slight nod. “I don’t think they really meant me, though,” she went on. He nodded back, not having to guess who they **did** mean. Did the Headmaster know about last night, **too**? He looked over at where Felicia had already peeled down to her fur and mounted a motorcycle of her own with Toriel sitting behind her, and a chill went up Nigeki’s spine as he watched Toriel press herself against Felicia’s arching back for the ride.

            “So what are we doing here, exactly?” Nigeki called up at Botan, who hovered over them on her paddle. She pointed to the far end of the quad where a rectangle of softly shimmering blue light formed.

            “Go as fast as you can and drive through that,” she commanded. Nigeki nodded and started his bike down the stretch of ground but immediately it started to swerve and tilt. He fought to keep it upright while Moka squealed and held herself against him even tighter, which only made his attempts to keep them from falling even harder as her warm, pillowy chest mashed up against his shoulders!

            “Looks like there’s something else I need to teach you how to do, kid!” Felicia called in amusement.

            None noticed the small crystal orb the zipped out of the bushes and into the pocket of Nigeki’s jacket.

            After another couple seconds he managed to get his bike under control long enough to drive through the portal Botan had made just behind Felicia and Toriel. Botan flew through it behind them and once they were on the other side she flew up into the sky.

            And the other side…was a place of desolation. They were on a long road that ran out of sight in both directions but was made of cracked, bleached paving stones. Ahead of them two other paths of decimated stone forked off from the one they were on, and behind Nigeki could see one branching off in the distance.

Surrounding the road were massive buildings that stretched out of sight. To the left was one carved out of stone with crenelated Roman columns and massive metal double doors with the face of a bearded man engraved into them. Off to the right of the road was a more modern building with tall glass windows and rusted pipes running all up and down the outside. From inside flashed a weird orange light every few seconds, but Nigeki couldn’t begin to see what was causing it.

Scattered around were other intimidating buildings from different times and places; here a rickety stone tower, there a rusted-out building of currogated steel that looked like a slaughterhouse, beyond it the dropping walls of a wooden hut that was about to fall over, while beyond **that** was an old, low brick building with dark neon signs advertising beer brands in the windows. At the corners of the strange buildings were old lampposts with smashed and empty lamps, along with dried up, leafless trees whose branches looked like long fingers that were waiting for something to grab onto. Even to the students at Youkai Academy they looked eerie and threatening.

Weirdest of all was that above them was a black sky with no moon or sun, just stars. As Nigeki look at them for a few seconds, he realized they were moving back and forth on their own.

“What’s wrong with the stars?” Nigeki asked. “They’re moving.”

“Those aren’t stars, kid,” Felicia replied.

“They aren’t?” Toriel asked, looking up for herself. “OH!”

Suddenly one swooped down, still above the roofs of the buildings around them, but far enough for the party to see that it was a glowing white human man, wrapped in heavy black chains around his entire body and dangling by his feet from something so far in the distance not even Nigeki and Moka could make it out. His eyes were empty black pits and his mouth gaped open in a silent scream. A second later he was pulled back into the darkness above where he swayed alongside the other points of light.

“This is a prison for the very worst souls,” Botan explained emotionlessly. “Do not expect to find allies here.”

“So what **is** the plan?” Nigeki asked. “If you made us come to Hell I’d at least like to hear why.”

Botan landed nearby and stepped off her oar. “Your teachers will remain here and guard this spot. Since this is where we entered, it will be the only safe place to leave. You and your friend will need to find the Well of Fear, and keep the Harbingers from opening it with the Keystones.” She held out her hand and a small round mirror appeared. The mirror shimmered and transparent images of buildings and roads, with a couple of strange icons clustered around: a goat, a set of three curved shapes like claws, a paddle and two drops of blood. “This will show you your surroundings, the locations of hostile beings and nearby Keystones, which are powerful talismans that can be used to open a way back to the mortal world. What I need you to prevent at all costs is the Harbingers getting all six before my reinforcements can arrive.”

Nigeki sighed lightly but took the mirror. “Who are you anyway, Botan?” he asked.

“I serve one of the figures charged with maintaining order in the spirit world,” she answered.

“And he asked for **us** when your usual guys were busy?”

“Miss Akashiya’s mother was one of the Three Dark Lords. She’s already connected to a great legacy,” Botan replied matter-of-factly. “And because of what you’ve already agreed to become part of, you’ve also attracted the attention of powerful players in things to come.”

 “I guess I’ve got to, then,” Nigeki said and revved Crossbow’s engine. Uncertainly, Moka got on the back behind him, and they sped away, veering awkwardly down the broken road.

 

XXX

 

A flock of skinless birds went flying from the dead tree they’d been resting in as a column of white light split the sky for just a second and slammed into the ground at a four-way junction of the broken road. When the light cleared, standing there was Simon Belmont, vampire hunter, dressed in red and black leather vest and pants, beside him a blonde girl in a red dress with a basket of goodies clutched in her hands. Around them were six boxy robotic soldiers.

“We could move faster on our own,” Simon murmured.

“But we’ll have way more kills with all this extra firepower,” BB Hood grinned, only her fiendish smile visible in the darkness of her namesake. “Makes me wish I had more room to haul monster carcasses out of here…I bet I can make a fortune off what’s left of these Harbingers.”

Simon sighed, flicked open the weird rectangular device he’d been given before they’d been sent and spotted a glowing shape of a key in a building a short distance away. “Let’s go.”

He’d barely taken a single step before suddenly thunder cracked and a lightning bolt ripped across the darkened sky. “ **STOP!** ” a voice bellowed, and against the dark sky appeared a giant ghostly face. It was of an elderly-seeming man with craggy, pock-marked skin, wearing a ragged hood. “I…am the Gatekeeper!” he shouted down at them.

“I’ve seen uglier than you,” Hood growled. “Fire!”

Each of the robotic soldiers took a step back, pivoted toward the sky and rolled a massive cannon out of their chest cavities. As one they fired shimmering yellow beams from their weapons that met at one spot and formed into one massive blast that ripped through the air and crashed into the Gatekeeper’s visage. For a second a look of surprise appeared on his face, then he faded from sight.

Hood looked over at Simon, smirking. “See? More guns are always better.”

“Yooooooooo-HOOOOOOOOO!” crooned a voice from above and behind. They spun around to see the Gatekeeper floating above them again, grinning a grin full of pointed yellow teeth. “This is my game, and I make the rules! Why don’t we see how your friends like a little timeout in…the **Bleggol**!”

“The WHAT??” Hood sputtered. The Gatekeeper’s sniggering laugh was his only reply. The robots turned toward him to fire again but as they did a point of pure, bottomless blackness formed in the air above each of them and then zoomed down, covering them completely. Then the blackness disappeared, leaving no trace of their reinforcements. Hood fired a missile out of her basket at the Gatekeeper, who gave the incoming weapon a bored look and it spiraled off in a different direction, exploding somewhere among the decrepit buildings a minute later. A thoroughly inhuman cry of agony shook the buildings on either side of them.

“Oooooh, now look what you did,” the Gatekeeper shook his head but grinned mockingly. “I’d get going before he comes looking for whoever upset him!”

“Whatever he is, he can have what’s left of you when I’m done!” Hood yelled and reached into her basket for another weapon.

“Don’t—” Simon tried to warn the mercenary, but he already knew he was wasting his breath.

The Gatekeeper let out his sniggering laugh once again. “I think you can stay there and think about what you’ve done for a little while!” he cooed, and immediately Hood froze in place, her face trapped in a look of surprise with her eyes darting back and forth as the sound of something massive slithering closer came from the distance.

“And as for you, little one,” the Gatekeeper addressed Simon, “Off you go to find your precious little key. And you should probably put that little suit of yours on. There’s things here that would make even **your** hair turn white. And wouldn’t it be a shame to lose that?” he added with a snigger.

“Like the thing coming to eat **her** while she’s totally helpless?” Simon retorted.

“Maybe so, maybe no,” the Gatekeeper grinned. “If she does it’s what she gets for being rude to the one running the game. But if **you** have some manners, you might just make it to the end.”

Simon looked over at Hood, who looked back at him, her hand still plunged into her basket with her fingers wrapped around a weapon she couldn’t even use. He couldn’t just leave her at the mercy of whatever that thing was, but from what he’d just seen he doubted the Gatekeeper was something even his family’s enchanted whip would do a thing against. If there was a time at all to confront him, this wasn’t it.

Instead he bowed lightly. “Yes, my Gatekeeper.”

“Oooooh! I like that!” the Gatekeeper giggled.

With one last look over his shoulder at Hood, Simon slipped away down the broken road, toward the Keystone he needed to find before anyone else had the chance.

“Henshin!”

 

XXX

 

In the shadow of a burnt out skyscraper Baron Samedi finally stopped. His search was proving more complicated than he’d planned, with it turning out the Well of Fear had not just a seal but a guardian. And such a powerful, sarcastic guardian at that…

A dark shape stepped out of the shadows next to him, and what was left of Baron Samedi’s sense of smell screamed in alarm. “Khufu,” he said quietly. “What news?”

“Not good,” the newcomer spoke. His body was wrapped in filthy bandages but over it he wore golden necklaces and bracelets, the marks of his status in his previous life. “Hellin’s gone. That ‘Gatekeeper’ sent her someplace. The Bleggol, I think he said. Something about ‘collaboration between players is against the rules.’ You never said anything about him, Samedi. I’ve half a mind to back out of this stupid alliance of yours.”

“It’d have to be, it’s all that’s left of your miserable mind,” Samedi retorted. “And if you’ve got a better way to get out of here, I’d love to hear it, you pile of linen-wrapped trash.”

Khufu growled lightly in his ancient throat, but said nothing. Baron Samedi sneered, “I thought so. What about the others? What about the Keystones?”

“Gevaudan had one, Bathory found another one I think. I’m on my way to find one of my own now,” Khufu answered. “What about you, ‘Baron’?” he added with contempt.

“I know where one’s hidden and I’m on my way there,” Baron Samedi explained. “Meet me back at the Well of Fear once you’ve found yours. Now let’s go, before that Gatekeeper decides to peek in on us.”

Khufu nodded, but croaked, “Yes, but if this is some kind of trick, so help me Samedi, I’ll make sure your suffering never ends!”

But the Baron just laughed in his bandaged face. “I think you were in that pyramid a **little** too long…where do you think we are?!” Then he danced away down the road from Khufu. A minute later when he was sure he was alone, Baron Samedi twirled his battered top hat off his head and tipped something from inside it into his hand: a small stone tablet engraved with the image of a blue key. Smiling with his decayed teeth, he hid it away again and set off to find his next Keystone.

 

XXX

 

Checking their map again, Nigeki and Moka stopped outside one of the weird, mismatched old buildings making up this ghostly prison. Nigeki climbed up to peer in one window, and Moka gazed at his back as he looked in for another minute and then jumped down again. “I don’t see that Keystone,” he reported, “but there’s this big hole in the middle going underground. I bet it’s down there. Let’s get going.”

“You’re different.”

“…what?” Nigeki asked, caught by surprise by Moka’s statement.

“Back when we started school…you said you were trying to stay out of fights and everything. All the other kids couldn’t wait to start one. I really liked that about you,” Moka said softly. “I understood when you needed to fight to help someone in trouble but now…but now. But now the school’s actually sending you out to fight people. I’m worried, Nigeki. You don’t….you don’t **like** fighting other monsters now, do you?”

He knitted his brow and looked at her in confusion, but replied, “Are you worried I’m turning into a ‘Kamen Rider’ for real, or something?”

Moka shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. You’re going out and fighting other monsters and now I’m here too, and the other me, the **real** me, she wants to hunt with you sometime…I’m scared.”

Nigeki put his hand on her shoulder, then lightly cupped her chin and lifted her face up to look him in the eye. “Okay, Moka? Don’t say you aren’t the ‘real’ one.”

“But she’s the one who was born, I just seal—” Moka started to protest.

“Maybe there’s two girls named Moka Akashiya who go to our school,” he interrupted. “But they’re both real people. You’re worried about this, right? You’re thinking your own thoughts. You’re real too.

“And second, well, what am I turning into that’s so scary, Moka?”

“You’re turning into someone who goes out and fights. Who takes dangerous risks. And you already wear that belt and that armor…you’re turning into a Kamen Rider,” Moka explained, her throat dry, clearly badly unsettled by what he asked her to think about. “You’re my best friend, Nigeki. I thought it would be nice going to school with someone who didn’t want to fight or hate other people. I’m worried about losing that, losing **you** , if this keeps happening.”

Nigeki looked away, checking the map again as if making sure the thing they were looking for hadn’t moved while they’d talked. After another minute he answered, “Moka, I’m finally doing something that makes a difference. I spent my whole life before I got to come to Youkai Academy just hiding from my problems. Now I’m taking them on, and I feel great about myself for the first time in my life.”

He let a second pass so Moka could process his words before he went on. “I don’t know if this means I’m actually a Kamen Rider or not. But I do know I can’t stop now. I’m sorry if it worries you that I’m changing, but I know it’s better this way than before. Now, do you want to help me go get that Keystone?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” said another voice, and Nigeki and Moka both looked toward where it had come from. Standing there, a small crystal orb in one hand and her toy-like and in the other, was Yukari Sendou, a slightly sheepish smile on her face.

“YUKARI!” Moka exclaimed, sinking to her knees to look the witch in the face. “What are you doing here?!”

She answered by holding up the orb, the same one that all of Nigeki’s friends had been sent by his family, and which allowed them to combine with him into a single monster of awesome power. That is, if there was a powerful bond between them.

“I came to help!” Yukari exclaimed cheerfully. “I saw both the people I’m going to marry going on a secret mission, and I thought this would be a great time for us all to get closer together!” She jumped forward and looped her arms through both of theirs.

All at once they were interrupted by a sound from above, a loud snorting. They all looked up and spotted an image of a floating face, an old man with a mottled complexion and wearing a ragged hood. He looked to be snoring but after a second his eyes flicked open and seemed to freeze them in place. “Is that all you’re going to do down here? Talk??” he giggled at them. “You’re more boring than daytime soap operas!”

“Who…who are you?” Moka asked.

“I am…the Gatekeeper!” he replied with obvious relish. “And while you kids are spending your time talking about your oh-so-important **feelings** , you’re falling behind in the game!”

“What?!” Nigeki shouted. “What are you? What game??”

“I already told you!” the Gatekeeper sneered. “And everything’s a game! But the idiots like **you** who let yourselves get distracted with stupid little problems will just fall behind!”

“Hey, wait…somebody’s in there!” Nigeki whispered, peering through the wind of the building they’d been about to enter. Indeed, a figure moving in a slouching, shambling walk had come in from the other side and slowly started to descend into the hole. Even in the weird half-dark of that Hell, Nigeki was sure the strange man was wrapped from head to toe in dirty bandages.

“Somebody’s in there! And he just went underground! Let’s hurry!” Nigeki whispered to the girls. He snuck along the wall to a jagged hole and slipped inside the building, then down through the hole in the floor the man, or rather the mummy had taken. But as soon as he’d gotten to the next floor his nose was assaulted by a smell he couldn’t identify but almost knocked him on his ass. “Of course…Hell would have these too,” he muttered.

“Is everything okay?” Moka called from above, having stopped when she saw him stop and clutch his nose.

“Aside from the fact that I’m standing in a sewer, I guess so,” Nigeki answered. Then there was a squelch and he sank up to his ankles in a puddle of stagnant water and sludge. “Look, I’ll go find that Keystone on my own. You two stay up here, make sure nobody sneaks up on me.”

“Wait!” Moka called. “What if you get in trouble? Don’t you need someone around to combine with now?”

Nigeki shook his head up at her, trying to give her a confident smile. “I’ve been having fight practice with Miss Bast, and she’s so tough she’s guarding the way back out, remember? I’ll be okay.”

But Moka flung herself over the edge, and for a second all Nigeki could see was a flash of pink under her skirt. She skidded down the wall and dropped down next to him with a splash. Yukari jumped down next and Nigeki looked away until he heard another, smaller splash behind Moka. “No!” Moka said. “They wanted me to come and help you! Maybe I don’t like it, but we can’t leave yet…We can figure out how I feel about what you’re doing later. But for right now…” Moka reached out and clasped Nigeki’s hand in hers.

But before she could say anything else a deafening roar, like the engine of a motorcycle reverberating down the tunnel. In a second balls of light appeared in the distance and came streaking toward them. After another second Nigeki could see the intruders: a group of skull-faced bikers on motorcycles made of steel-plated bones and belching green flame from outrageously huge and elaborate exhaust pipes. The bikers had wispy white hair and wore black leather jackets and Stetson hats. Suddenly another row of them came roaring up from the other direction, fencing the group in.

“What are those things?!” Moka squealed.

“Soul Rangers,” Yukari whispered, her voice dry. “They’re the scavengers of the underworld…they attack weak prey and leech off their energy to survive.”

Nigeki cracked his knuckles. If they took too long that mummy would find the Keystone, and then the Harbingers would be that much closer to escaping back to the world of the living.

Suddenly the Soul Rangers surged forward on one side while backing away on the other. Nigeki grabbed Moka and Yukari, pulling them away from the ghostly attackers. It only took him a second for him to see what they were trying to do: push him and his friends away from the opening in the ceiling and an easy escape. In another few seconds the three of them were driven back into the sewer tunnel, completely blocked off.

The Soul Rangers revved their spectral engines and started driving in circles through the muck around the students. Yukari clung to Nigeki’s leg, but he clenched his fists and steeled himself for a fight.

“ **HENSHIN!** ” he yelled. Yukari stepped out from behind him as red matter flowed from his belt and hardened into his armor once again. The tip of her wand glowed in readiness as his skull-mask locked itself around his head. Even Moka bit her lip and stepped away from Bloodstone.

“Ready, Kamen Rider?” Yukari asked, a teasing smile on her young face.

As she asked, one of the Soul Rangers broke away and steered straight at Bloodstone. He crouched then threw himself at the undead scavenger. There was a sudden *BOOM* and Bloodstone was thrown against the wall of the tunnel, leaving a crater where he hit. The Soul Ranger held up a smoking six-shooter and Bloodstone’s armor had a smoking dent where the shot had hit him.

But behind his mask, he smiled a bit. He was Kamen Rider Bloodstone. It would take more than that to stop him, and if Botan’s boss wanted him for this job, then he’d show them their money’s worth.

“You want to pick a fight with me? I’ll drink you dry,” Bloodstone said, and as he did fangs sprouted from the upper lip of his mask. The Soul Ranger aimed and fired his gun at Bloodstone again, but the area around the young vampire turned grey as the bullet seemed to slow down in midair as if it was moving through wet cement. Bloodstone easily ducked underneath it and jumped over another shot from another Soul Ranger cruising by his side. Two criscrossed each other in the air but Bloodstone swung his arms out in an arc and batted them back where they came, knocking the two Soul Rangers off their bikes.

Then he jumped, somersaulted through the air and came down in a fearsome jump kick that knocked the first Soul Ranger down even as he fired another shot that grazed Bloodstone’s head.

How much he’d changed since coming to Youkai Academy.

But for a second he thought about what Moka said, and wondered just what he was changing into…

Then the next thing he knew something had been pushed into his hand and a surge of power ripped through his body from his belt buckle. Bloodstone was thrown to the ground for a second, and when his head cleared he looked down to see Moka’s Rosario clutched in his hand. Standing over him now, a grin on her beautiful but intimidating face, was the brutal alter ego of Moka Akashiya.

“Now then,” she said, “Why don’t we see if you’ve learned your place.”


	9. Chapter 20 - Living in the Nightmare

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 20 – Living in the Nightmare**

 

            “Is that really what you’re asking?”

            There was a chill in the air even in the carefully sealed room they occupied. It would have made a tempting target, some of the wisest and most influential of Makai Realm’s residents. And in such interests, their faces were shrouded in shadow and their voices muffled by sorcery to hide as much of who they truly were as possible.

            “Is this some kind of joke?” the same obscured figure demanded. “Who **is** ‘the Man who Speaks in Hands’? You called all of us here on no notice for a hunk of _gibberish_ like that??”

            “My friend, this is why you should be keeping in better touch with your alma mater,” another retorted. “This **sounds** like an idiotic prank, I admit. But then that exact message was painted on the back of my school, and not only my school but every monster school who responded to my inquiries. Which was more than those that didn’t. Much more.”

            A wave of murmuring passed through the circle of envoys. The one who’d just spoken went on. “And not only that, this wasn’t simple paint. It couldn’t be removed even with magic. No mere vandal could create such a thing, and I’m becoming very worried about what’s going on and what it means for the safety of our world.”

            “We’ve heard of you and how often you operate with plans and motives only you are privy to, M—” the first said, rising and pointing an accusing finger.

            “ **No names** , brother,” another of them interrupted. The one he’d interrupted sat down heavily and crossed his arms. A few scattered sighs of exasperation rose from around the room. “Yes, we are all familiar with his ‘games,’ if you will. However, has he ever brought a truly frivolous case before this gathering of the Dark Lords?”

            Another wave of murmurs passed through them but no-one argued the question, and he went on. “I’ve heard tell of similar things…my own grandson told his nanny about a giant flat head that talked about a ‘man who speaks in hands’ who fell into his own creation and had his life cut short. And that it wasn’t wise to talk about someone who was listening to their conversation.”

            “A child’s story carries weight with the Dark Lords now??” the first demanded.

            “Then what about one of your own?” protested a feminine voice. “I walked into my own office just yesterday and there was a man wearing all black and with a smiling mask on inside. He wasn’t searching for anything, he just stood there, and before I could decide what to do he just disappeared. One instant he was there and the next he wasn’t.

            “And some kind of **sound** was coming from those holes in the middle of his hands…it was in no language I could understand, but it was speech all the same.”

            Murmuring again. A voice rose up above it, “No language **you** could understand, my lady?”

            Her hooded head bowed several times in a nod. Again, murmurs from the envoys. Another female voice rose up, “So we are in agreement that some unknown party is harassing us, and we have no idea of the extent of their power. Any suggestions on how to detect and catch them in the act?”

            Although he didn’t hold out much hope, Tenmei Mikogami sat down to listen carefully to his comrades’ suggestions for what they could do to deal with their mysterious opponent. But for one person, he already knew it was too late.

 

XXX

 

            The gang of Soul Rangers tightened their circle around Bloodstone, Yukari and Moka, spraying the three of them with smelly brown water kicked up by the Rangers’ bikes. Yukari sputtered and coughed some of it back up, but the vampires were crouched in fighting readiness. Moka glanced over her shoulder at Bloodstone, but then she was off and running, ivory white hair dancing her behind her as she hurled herself at the first Soul Ranger unlucky enough to cross in front of her. She jumped and threw a roundhouse kick that knocked him off his bike with such incredible force he hadn’t even hit the ground before he’d spun out of sight into the darkness.

            Behind her she could feel the air starting to part around the bullet before she heard the blast of another Soul Ranger’s gun. She leaned away and charged at him, but it was if the Soul Ranger could see what she was planning just a second ahead of her and the bullet still grazed her arm as she ran over at lightning speed and planted her foot in his rib cage with all the awesome force that was hers to unleash. He went flying off his bike and bounced off the ceiling with a crash before splashing down in the dirty water and splattering some of it on her blouse.

            Moka grimaced in annoyance, but as she did the Soul Ranger she’d just slammed off his bike stood back up, the cracks in his rib cage starting to slowly flow back together, and his bike stood up at his side by itself.  
            She launched herself at him again and he fired twice, one biting her shoulder and the other clipping her ear and blowing a wisp of cloudy white hair away. He was rewarded when she slammed her first straight into his skeletal face. His head jerked back but in less than a second Moka followed up with a high sweeping kick that knocked it right off his shoulders. Then she swung her arms in diagonal chops in different directions through his torso, shattering his ribs and arms. They fell into the water with a series of plops before the rest of his body toppled into the water, and this time it didn’t get back up.

            So these things were no match for her strength after all, she just had to be a little extra thorough than she was used to when taking them out. Without even looking she whirled around and lashed out at another two Soul Rangers behind her, taking their heads off with a ferocious spinning kick.

            Like a streak of red, Bloodstone dashed and landed a kick on the front wheel of one of the skeletal bikers’ machines. It swerved violently and narrowly missed crashing into Yukari, clipping the rear wheel of another Soul Ranger’s bike instead. The first hit something hidden underneath the filthy water of the sewer tunnel and pitched forward, throwing the rider into the muck. The second skidded back and forth for a few seconds before slamming into the wall with a crash that echoed up and down the tunnel. The wall cracked where he’d hit and started to crumble.

            A few of the others fired their spectral six-shooters at Bloodstone. The bullets left blackened dents in the armor around his chest and one dug into the softer red material on his arm, but he couldn’t spare much of his attention to it.

As the wall came down, smashed by the Soul Ranger Moka had kicked into the wall, he noticed another tunnel on the other side, and limping away from them was a made covered in moldy bandages from head to toe. He looked back over his shoulder in alarm and started limping even faster.

            “Hold it, Harbinger!” Bloodstone yelled but the mummy only dragged himself down the tunnel faster, clutching something to his chest in one bandaged hand. Bloodstone turned around and yelled to the others, “Let’s go!”

            “You go!” Moka replied, turning for just a second to face him, and Bloodstone was a little startled to see a red ribbon of blood trickling down her ear. Like this, in her true form, she’d always seemed liked the perfect predator: strong, swift, invincible. To see her hurt, bleeding…it was **wrong**. As she knocked a pair of Soul Rangers off their bikes with two kicks in midair she turned again for a second and grimaced as she saw him still there. “Go, idiot! They’ll just chase us down if we all go after that mummy!”

            “Yukari, let’s go,” Bloodstone said, turning to keep the mummy in his sights.

            “But what about Mo—” the young witch started to protest, but stopped as a Soul Ranger’s gun went off four times and Moka grunted in pain. Fresh tears in her uniform decorated her sides, and thin streams of blood from her wounds were trickling down her leg.

            But Bloodstone pulled her away, after the mummy. “She’s the strongest girl at school, right? She’ll be fine. Besides, if these Harbingers can open a door from Hell, think about all the damaged they’d do.” He cupped his hands behind his back, and with one last look over her shoulder Yukari jumped up and held on tight to his shoulders. Then Bloodstone ran down the tunnel after the mummy, the sound of a spectral gunshot seeming to echo even louder behind them.

            Almost immediately Bloodstone lost him. But a second later he could hear the sound of feet being dragged through the ankle-deep sludge-water in the distance and chased after it. A minute later Bloodstone stopped at a junction, scanning for any sign of the mummy’s passing. His senses were some of the keenest among the monster world, but they were being overwhelmed by all the various smells of rot and filth down there, and there wasn’t much in something undead like a mummy for his senses to lock in on.

It wasn’t helped by Yukari grinding her face into the back of his neck and whimpering softly. Bloodstone couldn’t help cringing. A kid her age had no business being in a place like this, but he couldn’t just turn around and drop her off at the door when he had a Harbinger to chase down. Too much was riding on this.

But then a few hundred feet away he could just hear a long, slow and very small splash in the water. It might’ve been something like a rat or whatever Hell had like them, but to his instincts it sounded like someone taking a step and trying not to be heard. Maybe like the mummy they were chasing down.

He bolted down the tunnel and after coming around the corner where he’d heard the noise he spotted the shambling form of the mummy walking into a large open room in front of them with a sloping pile of debris in one corner. If he climbed it he’d be able to get to the surface easily, but he suddenly stopped in the middle of the room and started mumble something through ancient purple lips. Bloodstone set Yukari down in the entrance and stalked closer to the mummy. “Hand over that Keystone!”

            “No, wait!” Yukari screamed as the mummy raised his arms above his head and a small vortex of red power started to swirl between his hands.

“In the name of the chaos of Apep, of the spite of Set, feel the curse of the tombs!” He lowered his arms and the energy spun through the air to cover up Bloodstone. The flowing red patterns on his armor expanded suddenly but then shrank into small strands until they were almost invisible against the black. Bloodstone himself gave a dry gasp of pain as his skin retreated inward, showing bony outlines through his armor, and he bent forward while his legs creaked, like he’d suddenly been turned into an old man!

The mummy laughed. “Don’t think I’m just another limping undead for you and your kind to stomp on, vampire! Khufu the mighty will return and raze the world of the living, and not even _you_ , who think you’re the rulers of the night, will be safe!!” He raised his hands to gather power for another attack.

And then the roof caved in above him and a dented metal wash tub broke itself in half over Khufu’s head. “Leave him alone,” Yukari whispered, but her voice quivered.

Khufu staggered and the power he was gathering disappeared. But then he turned to face Yukari and held up a withered hand, a black stone tablet with the shape of a key carved into it. “Let us duel, little witch,” he proposed. “Your pitiful might against mine.”

“I’m not bad,” she retorted in another whisper.

Bloodstone stumbled a step closer, holding out a bony hand toward Khufu before he fell down and let out a pathetic, dry gasp. Yukari clenched her hands nervously for a second but steadied herself and desperately leveled her wand at Khufu, who just laughed again. “Maybe you aren’t. But how do you I think I ended up here?! I mastered magic the world today doesn’t even know about and I ruled an empire that lasted five hundred years! What have you done??”

“I’m in advanced placement.”

When he heard that Khufu threw back his head and laughed. The stone in his hand, one of the Keystones that would give him his freedom from that place, started to glow as he focused his power through it. Then a slicing desert wind full of sand and angry, biting locusts blew into the room.

 

XXX

 

The lock rattled uselessly in Kurumu’s hand, and the succubus scowled in annoyance. What was someone doing in the cooking classroom so late after classes, she wanted to know. Especially since she had a feeling she already did.

Glancing around to make sure nobody was nearby, especially that new head of campus security, then her wings uncurled out of her back and her barbed tail followed. She flapped once and hovered a few feet off the ground, just high enough to peek in the window.

And there, leaning over a stove and wearing asbestos gloves, was Mizore Shirayuki. Kurumu pressed her face against the glass to try to see what was in the pot Mizore was stirring, but Mizore set down her spoon and turned around to look right at her. She pulled the window open and leaned out.

“What?” Mizore asked in her usual toneless voice.

“What are you doing?” Kurumu asked, deciding to just along after being caught in the act. “You making some kind of treat for Nigeki?”

What Mizore said was the last thing she’d been expecting to hear. “Come in and see.”

Kurumu climbed in the window and as soon as she did she pinched her nose shut from a thick, burning smell that filled the room. Then she saw how all along the counter were bowls that were full of black and purple stew with things like fish heads and chunks of food she couldn’t even identify floating at the top. They seemed to be releasing a gas into the air, but Mizore didn’t seem to notice. “What **are** those??”

“I’m trying out a recipe my mom sent me,” Mizore explained. “She said she made it for my dad on their first date. My first tries didn’t go so well…,” she said, pointing to the bowls of poisonous slop. “I never really learned to cook before.”

“Wow, yeah…,” Kurumu said. “I’m kind of surprised…I mean, I was expecting you to attack me when you saw me.”

Mizore only shrugged. “I’m not worried about you. I’m going to win, after all.”

Kurumu bristled. “Oh yeah?? You definitely said you knew just because you combined with him, it didn’t mean you two were in love!”

“I also said it didn’t mean we couldn’t be if I tried,” Mizore replied with a faint smirk. “That’s another reason I’m going to win, I’m actually paying attention to the competition. And I’m actually working on a plan instead of just raging on another girl.”

Kurumu hissed through her teeth but Mizore turned away from her and added a pinch of something else to the stew. The temperature didn’t drop, and Mizore’s hair didn’t start turning into icicles the way it did when she was getting ready to fight.

After watching her for a minute and nothing happening, Kurumu cleared her throat. “So…back when that guy broke into the school and stole that whip…thanks for being around when Nigeki needed you to power him up.”

“I’m always around,” Mizore replied. “But you were around too that time, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I was. And maybe I choked for a second then,” Kurumu confirmed, but then held up her fist. “But next time, I won’t! I’m going to beat all of you in the end!”

Mizore surprised the succubus again by extending her hand. “I’ll be looking forward to competing with you.”

This made no sense. They were supposed to be enemies, weren’t they? Kurumu reminded herself what she was supposed to do; wasn’t she going to die if she didn’t end up with the person she was destined to be with? She’d been told that over and over since she was little…for just a second as she shook Mizore’s head with a steeled smile on her face, Kurumu wondered just what she’d be willing to try to win this.

And what she’d do if she didn’t.

 

XXX

 

The ancient power surging through Khufu’s Keystone intensified and Yukari was blown off her feet and slid across the floor until she crashed into the wall. She desperately clenched her tiny, trembling hands around her wand and sent a flurry of winged tarot cards flying at Khufu but the desert storm he’d summoned blasted most of them away before they could hit him. The rest just lodged in his body, not seeming to do any damage. Locusts landed on Yukari and bit into her skin, and around a scream of pain she barked an ancient word that surrounded her in a bubble of whistling air that blew them away.

But Khufu kept up the attack, winds howling and sand and biting insects bouncing off her, and the young witch’s protective spell started to shrink.

She had been willing to help fight their enemies before. But she hadn’t thought of the dangers of doing it: they were the heroes, justice was always carried out when they faced their enemies and bravely refused to back down. But now, Bloodstone for all his incredible power had lost his strength and Yukari was about to be obliterated by a crazy mummy.

Her stomach clenched like a fist with fear. She realized she was trying to think of the last thing her mother had said to her before sending her to Youkai Academy, and couldn’t remember. Would Yukari ever get the chance to see her again? And she was already in Hell, or some part of it. What would happen to her if she died here? Would she be trapped forever, suffering the same as someone who’d been sent there because of their evil in life…?

Then suddenly the wind died down, and through the yellow haze of the sand Yukari could see that Bloodstone had dragged himself over to Khufu and sunk his fangs into the mummy’s leg. He still looked like a skeleton in his shrunken armor, but he was attacking Khufu with what little strength he had left, to save **her**. Khufu cried out in pain and aimed the Keystone at Bloodstone, and for a second Yukari saw her chance.

She whipped her wand and another blast of winged tarot cards pelted Khufu, digging into his grey skin or getting tangled in his bandages. He growled in anger and fired another blast of harsh desert sand and locusts at her, making Yukari cry out and curl into a ball as it roared across the room to surround her.

“No!” Bloodstone screamed.

After a few deafening seconds Khufu lowered the Keystone and the murderous air-blast faded. On the other side of the room, there was nothing left but a tattered cape and pointed hat.

“You…bastard…!” Bloodstone wheezed pathetically.

            “Then join her, **lord of the night** ,” Khufu laughed. He pointed the Keystone at his helpless enemy, yelled a word of power and another blast of scalding air knocked him off the ground and he hit the wall with a horrible clattering of bones. Locusts landed all over him and started chewing through his armor. It would be a while before they got through, but Khufu laughed at the sight of the vampire stripped of all his legendary power. “Just the first of many, **boy**. Take some comfort in knowing you’ll be out of the way first.”

            Then a strange piping music started to play, louder and louder until Khufu could hear it even above the wind he was conjuring. The locusts all over Bloodstone stopped chewing on him and seemed to look up at something above them. Khufu grunted in confusion and looked up to see Yukari sitting in a hole in the wall. Her clothes were torn and her wand, stuck through the waistband of her skirt, was scratched and battered. But she had a small flute to her lips and as she played it the locusts all over the room that Khufu had conjured suddenly splayed their wings and buzzed at him like a giant brown cloud.

            Khufu screamed as they landed on him and chewed at his decayed flesh. He fired off the Keystone’s power again and blasted some of them away but this just created even more locusts that swarmed him to the sound of Yukari’s music. The evil mummy went down, surrounded by biting insects, and Yukari dropped from her perch over to where Bloodstone lay. She clutched his shoulders and gently rolled him onto to his back, and he gasped out, “What’s going on?”

            “He summoned those bugs, but he didn’t think he’d need to actually control them I guess,” Yukari answered as she examined him for wounds, which wasn’t easy with his armor gone totally black. “We need to hurry, it won’t stay like that for long.”

            But Bloodstone put a thin hand on her shoulder. “We can’t leave, we have to get his Keystone away from him so he can’t use it to escape.”

            “You’re not up for a fight like—” Yukari protested, but he silenced her with a surprisingly sharp squeeze to her shoulder with how weak he looked.

            “You let Khufu think he killed you on purpose so you could control his bugs without him trying to stop you, right?” She nodded. “What made you do something so risky?”

            “Is this the time—” Yukari interrupted, but was interrupted herself by another authoritative squeeze to her shoulder. “I…! Because you and Moka were the first people who ever stuck up for me before. I had to save you but I’m not strong enough by myself.”  
            “Yukari,” Bloodstone wheezed. “Maybe you aren’t strong enough by yourself, and god knows I’m not…but it doesn’t have to be one person who saves the day. You see what Khufu’s like…you think you can feel what you felt for me, for everybody  he’ll hurt if he gets out of here? It’ll be a disaster.”

            “Nigeki…I can’t…”

            An angry shriek seemed to shake the entire room as Khufu sent the locusts flying off him with a dark haze that seemed to ooze out of his bandages and dissolve in the foul air. His cry of anger faded just soon enough for him to hear another voice.

            “ **Hex Heart. Synch!** ”

            A flash of light came from where Bloodstone had been lying as power flowed through the Joining Nexus in his body. He stood up quickly, proudly, his body filling out again and the veins crisscrossing his armor throbbing loudly with strength. As Khufu watched a short purple cape trimmed in black unfolded from his shoulder armor. Lines of power carrying strange white runic symbols ran from his shoulders to his wrists and from his waists to the cuffs of his armored boots. His bone-white mask had gone completely smooth, except for a small black crystal orb lodged where his left eye would be. And over his heart was a small crystal orb, glowing with purple light with the image of a golden pentagram floating inside it.

            “What are you?!” Khufu demanded.

            Bloodstone said nothing, wordlessly passing a hand in front of the gem on his belt buckle, and a red rectangular shape with a short black handle appeared in his gauntleted hand. “ **Hunters Myriad** ,” declared the Bloodstone itself. Five points sprang out of the edges, forming a star shape. Then he swiped it through the air and a blast of hissing sparks, like miniature stars, jumped at Khufu.

 

XXX

 

            He almost missed Hood’s help.

            Every shadow seemed to hide an enemy, eyes seemed to peer out of every crack in the broken ground. Even to a veteran monster hunter like Revenant, this place was chilling. It didn’t exactly put the ever-shifting passages and dungeons of Castlevania to shame, but every few seconds he was sure he saw movement out of the corner of his eye but when he turned to look whatever he’d seen had scampered out of sight.

            If indeed anything had been there in the first place.

            Was anything there, or was the power of this dark place itself somehow mocking him? That Gatekeeper character seemed the type to mess with his prey…

            Then he rounded the edge of a half-fallen building, heard a high-pitched cackle and ducked into the shadows of a pile of debris. He peered over it and the lenses in his mask zoomed in on a pair of humanoid shapes standing by a small fire. One looked like an old woman with wrinkled face and an impossibly long beak-like nose. Her spindly grey hair reached all the way down to her ankles and her gaunt arms were held high, two small stones with the shapes of keys engraved in them clutched between long hooked fingernails. Her eyes were nothing but dull black marbles, but he could recognize a kind of sight in them nonetheless as she stared deeply at the two stones.

            “You’ve had your fun, Madam de Chantraine,” interrupted the growling voice of the other, and at once Revenant recognized what he was. The blue color to his thick fur was unusual, but the long snout full of knife-like teeth, clawed fingers and powerful angular legs could only belong to one of the most fearsome of supernatural hunters, a werewolf. “Return that stone,” he growled.

            “Don’t try my patience, beast,” she croaked. “My grasp of the power these contain is far clearer than yours.”

            The werewolf started to growl in anger but his ears suddenly pricked up a second before the air cracked with the sound of the long whip that snaked out and struck the old woman’s hands. She shrieked in pain and dropped the Keystones, but when the werewolf dove for them again the whip stretched out and lashed across his side. “Step away from those, Harbingers,” Revenant commanded as he stepped into sight. “Anne de Chantraine the witch and Gevaudan the werewolf, I presume,” he rattled off the names AGES intelligence had given him.

            “And who in blazes are you?” Gevaudan demanded in a growl. “You don’t look like the type to end up here.” He looked Revenant’s glistening armor up and down.

            “When I first lived, I was named Simon Belmont.”

            “Belmont?” Gevaudan huffed, unimpressed.

            But the witch went back a step, sparks jumping from her curled black fingernails. “ **Belmont**??” she hissed in disbelief.

            “Belmont,” Revenant confirmed, then swung his arm and made his whip jump from the pod where it was mounted, giving Gevaudan second thoughts as he started to close in. “Fear my name,” Revenant declared.

            It was hard to tell with a wolf, but Revenant thought he saw a look of uncertainty cross Gevaudan’s face. Then with the speed of a lightning bolt the wolf lunged for the two fallen Keystones. Revenant’s whip cracked through the air and sliced against his side again but this time the wolf only clenched his teeth and grabbed at the stone tokens.

His furry fingers wrapped around one but the other lifted out of his grasp and floated over to the witch’s gnarled hand. He glared at her, teeth still pressed together angrily and her only response was a toothy smile.

“No matter,” Gevaudan growled, and the Keystone in his hand glowed with power. Then the next thing Revenant knew something had slammed into him that he had never seen coming and knocked him flat on his back. Gevaudan seemed to **appear** out of thin air above him, grinning a ferocious lupine grin and flicks of spit dripping from his jaws down onto Revenant’s mask.

But that wasn’t the first monster he’d tangled with, and this pain was nothing to him. Revenant brought back the arm his whip was mounted on but with a snarl the wolf clamped his jaws down on the monster hunter’s arm, then yanked fiercely as if trying to pull Revenant’s arm clean out of its socket. But the savage wolf was too focused on his seemingly helpless enemy, he didn’t notice Revenant swinging a precisely-aimed chop right into the center of his throat.

Gevaudan let out a strangled cry and coughed blood onto Revenant’s arm, yanking even harder with his teeth. Another chop and Gevaudan’s mouth was torn away from him, shattered teeth flying away into the darkness. He retreated from Revenant but then turned into a black blur that dashed away out of the ruins of the building they were in. By the time Revenant had turned to face him the black blur had crashed into him and knocked him into the air.

This time Revenant was expecting it and twisted himself to get his legs behind him, letting him vault off the wall and fire off a pellet at the ceiling. It shattered, spraying holy water all over the area and the droplets burst into flame wherever they landed on Gevaudan. He howled in pain as he tried to beat out the patches of flame, and failed to notice the sound of Revenant’s next attack.

 **“Banshee Boomerang**.”

The cross-shaped projectile came flying out of nowhere and crashed into the base of the werewolf’s neck. He hit the ground with a crash and tried to roll out the flames on his body, but a booming voice distracted him from his own pain for a second.

“ **Banishing Strikes.** ”

Revenant’s whip snaked through the air and slammed into his chest twice as hard as it had last time before retreating back into its mounting on Revenant’s arm. But then it flew out and belted into Gevaudan again. Again and again the whip pummeled him, coming faster and faster until it was just a blur in the air striking without stopping. The whip was smoking as it retracted into Revenant’s armor, and as Gevaudan went down his body disintegrated. A puff of smoke was left behind, the shape of a howling wolf’s face appearing in it for a second before flying upward, his soul imprisoned once again with his defeat.

Revenant ducked back into the shadows then the monster hunter casting a cautious eye around for the other, but the witch was nowhere to be seen. She’d probably run off when she saw Revenant making short work of her comrade. He bent down to pick the Keystone that had seemingly given his enemy a burst of supernatural speed. Could it do the same for anyone…?

“Not bad!” called a cackling voice from above, and Revenant didn’t even have to guess that the cowled, craggy face above belonged to the Gatekeeper. “But that old biddy moves pretty fast for an old lady, huh?? She plays the game smarter than you, eh?”

            He’d seen this being’s power, and had no wish to end up in the “bleggol,” or whatever this grinning ghost had sent the rest of his party. More humility seemed in order until he had a better idea of what he’d be up against. “I’ve been playing this game a long time, too. I’m—”

            “Simon Belmont! Oh yes, I heard about you! We’ve got some of your old friends down here! Or should I say…up there!” The Gatekeeper craned his head back to look at the thrashing, glowing souls chained to the sky above them. “Just how old **are** you, anyway?” he sneered at Revenant.

            “Aren’t you more interested in this little game of--”

            Thunder cracked and the thrashing souls overhead stopped moving out of fear. “Answer me, maggot! I asked you a question, and you answer!” the Gatekeeper roared, all joking gone from his voice.

            “I was born in 1669,” Revenant answered.

            At once the Gatekeeper gave one of his snide, cackling laughs. “That’s a really funny number! And oh boy! **Another** fossil! You’d better get after her! A **fossil** race, that’s a good one!”

Revenant ignored the taunt. It was a nuisance that the other Harbinger had escaped, but as long as he had one of their precious Keystones, their plan couldn’t be carried out.

But what would they do to get it back…?

 

XXX

 

A swarm of blinding sparks erupted in Khufu’s bandaged face as Bloodstone’s strange weapon swung through the air. He gasped in surprise as small fires erupted in his bandages but the Keystone in his withered hand glowed as he prepared to channel his power through it again.

            But as he did Bloodstone grabbed the edge of his cape, whisked it up over his face…and then it dropped to the ground, completely empty.

Khufu looked around angrily and spotted five Bloodstones appearing out of thin air behind him. “ **Chroma Pester!** ” They held up their weapons and Khufu braced himself and with a roar they spewed a cloud of colorful ribbons and confetti all over him. Khufu scowled in rage and gathered his power for another attack, then realized only four of his opponents had piles of confetti at their feet.

“ **Tub Polar!** ” Bloodstone spun on his heel and as he came back around to face Khufu a cloud of small round magnets flew from the weapon in his hand and landed all over the mummy’s ancient body. He felt a strange pulling sensation and for a second panicked at the thought of being pulled apart…would that even kill him with how he was already a member of the undead? Would he spend his eternity as a collection of living but disconnected body parts?

Then three portals suddenly opened in the air; above and to either side of him, then out of each flew a giant wash tub ten feet from end to end, pulled together by the magnets and mashing Khufu between them. They flickered away but already Bloodstone was launching another attack.

“ **Crisis Popper!** ” The dazed mummy flinched at the name and fired off a desperate blast of desert and locusts at his enemy, but only a stinging breeze came from the Keystone. Had Khufu used up its power? Or had he used up so much of his own power it had little to amplify anymore…?  
            He had other things to worry about as Bloodstone suddenly charged and spun again, glittering spheres shooting from the end of his Myriad. They expanded until they were as big as the wash tubs that just all but flattened the mummy, but then his fear turned to anger as he recognized what they were.

Soap bubbles.

His anger faded and was replaced again by panic when he saw Bloodstone jabbing one of the bigger bubbles with a prong on his Myriad and then pulling his cape around himself to disappear. The bubble exploded with a deafening boom and then two touching it exploded too, and then more that had been touching them. Khufu was picked up off his withered feet and flung him across the room. He hit the far wall with a crash and just kept on going as the rock crumbled away.

He let out a feeble, dry wail with dust spurting from his lips as he hit the ground and finally lay still. Bloodstone grabbed the Keystone from where it had landed and tucked it into his belt, then suddenly went rigid.

 

XXX

 

Against a darkened sky with grey fog wreathing her feet, Yukari looked up and over one shoulder. Not far away Nigeki stared straight ahead at an image of the room where they’d fought Khufu.

“Did we kill him?” Yukari asked softly.

“I don’t really think so,” Nigeki said and slipped an arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her against him. “What kind of hell would it be if you could get out that easily?”

“But…” Yukari looked at him, eyes quivering, then looked away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with practiced patience, as if this wasn’t the first time he’d had to comfort a frightened child. “It’s all right, Yukari. You can tell me.”

She threw her arms around his waist and jammed her face into his side. “That was so scary…he really wanted to kill us, didn’t he? What would happen if we died down here?!”

Nigeki gently hooked his finger under her chin and raised her face up to look him in the eye. “Yukari, we didn’t die, and it was because of you being brave, okay? I couldn’t do anything, he turned me into a mummy too.”

“I still don’t think I like being in real fights,” Yukari mumbled, and then shoved her face into his thigh again.

“Hey, look…!”

Yukari shrieked and pulled herself harder against him than ever. “Is he alive again??!”

“No, relax. It’s okay, it’s Moka,” Nigeki said. Yukari looked up and indeed Moka was standing there next to them, her uniform torn to shreds. Someone she’d been fighting had taken care to rip open the top of her blouse and acres of soft white skin were spilling out of the space between the popped buttons. The top half of a Soul Ranger’s skeletal remains still clung to one shapely leg and clawed uselessly at her skin with broken stumps of bone where his fingers had been. She casually kicked backward and sent the undead scavenger flying to shatter against the far wall.

“So you two didn’t mess it up,” Moka said, the faintest of smiles on her pale lips. Bloodstone said nothing, standing totally rigid, and Moka scowled. “What’s wrong? Can’t you talk?” she asked. He put the Hunters Myriad back in his belt, then reached up to where the orb was lodged in his chest armor and pulled it free. His form glowed, writhed and then split back into Bloodstone and Yukari Sendo.

“I guess I can’t when I’m like that,” Bloodstone shrugged. “Figure it. We can beat the ever-living crap out of a mummy, but I can’t talk when there’s someone else in there with me.”

Suddenly his ears pricked up at the sound of a soft, but angry statement. “You overestimate your accomplishments.” Khufu had gotten up from where he’d landed and was starting to chant, an accusing finger pointed at them. Bloodstone and Moka went into fighting stances and Yukari held up her wand.

“ **Stop!** ” roared an angry voice punctuated by a crack of thunder that shook dust from the ceiling. “What do you maggots think you’re doing?” asked a transparent image of a floating face, of a craggy-featured old man wearing a ragged hood. “Players helping each other is against the rules! You two are **banished! To the bleggol!** ”

And in the next instant they were gone, absorbed into a dark spot in the air above them that closed up as soon as they’d been pulled inside without a sound. Khufu let out a cry of anger almost as loud as the Gatekeeper’s. “You **FOOL!** He had one of the Keystones! Now the rite is impossible to complete!”

The Gatekeeper just grinned and laughed at his rage. “It matters so much to you? Then why don’t you go find it! You’re banished too!” A point of darkness opened in the air above Khufu and drew him inside, then closed after him.

Moka took a step closer to the Gatekeeper’s image, coming down with such force the ground cracked. Her fangs are out as she demanded, “Where are they? What did you **do** with them?”

His expression turned cheeky. “Tell you what, sweetie, ask me nice and I’ll tell you all about it!”

She scowled, then ran past him and jumped through the opening in the ceiling.

“Your loooooss!” he called with a snigger after her.

 

XXX

 

It took Bloodstone a second to recognize that his eyes were in fact wide open, but all he could see was a weird blackness that he floated through like water. He could see his hand in front of his face, but the only the other thing he saw was Yukari floating nearby, and he reached out and grabbed her before she had the chance to drift away.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Where are we?”

“What makes you think I know?” Yukari asked, eyes wide with confusion and a trace of fear.

Bloodstone shrugged. “Well, you knew what those Soul Rangers were. I thought maybe you’d recognized what the ‘bleggol’ or whatever the hell he was saying was.”

“Well, I think he was saying ‘black hole,’ ” Yukari replied. “But I don’t know where this is…or how we get out.”

He sighed to hear the news. “I was afraid of that.” Then he gasped in surprise and almost let go of Yukari as a gleaming robotic soldier, like the ones he’d run into at Witch’s Knoll, smacked into his back. It aimed a weapon on its arm at him as it turned end over end but no attack ever came and a second later it was lost in the darkness.

A second later he could make out something else drifting closer, a large wooden box with paintings of clowns and a circus tent on the sides. It turned end over end as it came near them and suddenly the lid swung open, making Yukari shriek and cling to Bloodstone in surprise. A china doll popped out and stared at them with her icy, vacant eyes.

“The Keystones, give them to me,” the doll said in a low moan. “Give them to us, and we will all be rulers when we escape this place…”

“Another Harbinger, huh?” Bloodstone asked. “No thanks!”

The box spun away from them, the doll fixing them with her empty gaze the entire time, and Bloodstone felt a chill race up his spine. Luckily for him Yukari tapped him urgently on the shoulder and he saw something else drifting their way. It was a man covered in dirty bandages: Khufu.

“Back for more already?” Bloodstone called out.

Khufu looked up in surprise at the call. “There’s no point fighting now, vampire. We’ve been dropped in the Black Hole, the deepest part of the underworld. Many have fallen in, but few have ever made it back out. I can see why, now…”

Bloodstone grunted in annoyance. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he said, “Look, maybe if we team up we can find a way out of here.”

“Oh, no need for that.” **I’ll** be leaving shortly,” he said, holding up another Keystone. “And don’t get any ideas of fighting me into your pathetic little minds. **This** is the only thing that works in the Black Hole. You might as well be human for as long as you’re here.”

Yukari screwed up her face and pointed her wand at him defiantly but the glow at the tip had gone out. Bloodstone even noticed flecks of his armor starting to peel off and the light at his belt seemed to be fading as well.

Then without warning Khufu pushed himself through the void at them and grabbed the other Keystone out of the surprised Bloodstone’s belt before he kept flying past into the darkness. Yukari grabbed Bloostone and whispered something in his ear, then pulled her knees up to her chin curled herself into a small ball.

Khufu clutched both Keystones possessively, a feeling of reassurance creeping through his ancient body. He’d hoped for the chance to put a few young upstarts in their place to remind himself what it was like, but soon he and the other Harbingers be out again, and there’d be plenty of people like them to put down…

Suddenly something slammed into his back and knocked him spinning into the void. Yukari unrolled herself and pushed off his back with her feet toward the Keystones he’d dropped when she crashed into him. One she grabbed in her hand, and hooked the hollow heart on the end of her wand around the other before it had a chance to slip away. Bloodstone drifted by and caught her by the arm a second later.

“Nice plan,” he said.

“Thanks!” she beamed, clutching her hands to her chest.

“Maybe you’re more ready to be brave than you think.”

She flinched. “Can we figure that out later?”

“Sure. If you can figure out how to make that thing get us out of here,” Bloodstone replied.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Yukari smiled confidently and held up one of the Keystones, channeling her power through it Then without warning a stream of winged tarot cards the size of refrigerators shot out of it and pushed them violently down until Yukari managed to get over her screaming and cut the flow through it.

“Wrong one,” she said sheepishly. She held up the second Keystone, and a gentle glow washed over them.

 

XXX

 

For a minute Bloodstone wondered if they’d really gone anywhere until he could make out writhing points of light against the darkness. The damned souls shook back and forth above him, and he shivered and quickly looked around to see if he could recognize where they’d reappeared instead.

They stood in a ring of white stone obelisks, ragged chunks missing from most of them. He looked up and down the paths leading away from the circle but could see no-one, and nothing looked familiar among the ruins to orient himself in this forbidding place. “How are we even going to get back to Felicia and Toriel? I don’t suppose Botan gave you a map when I wasn’t looking?”

Yukari shook her head, but there was a faint smile on her dirt-smeared face all the same. “Guess we’ll just have to start walking until something looks familiar,” then she quietly added, “And then we can go home where there’s no more mummies who want to turn us into more mummies.”

Bloodstone chuckled a little. “Yeah, just crazy zombie music teachers with magic guitars.” Yukari made an “eek” sound and hid her face behind her arms, then started walking down the nearest path without exposing her face again. He walked off behind her, chuckling again. “So now I’m joking with a kid in Hell. **There’s** something I never thought I’d be able to say about my high school years.”

“What **did** you think you’d be able to say about high school?” Yukari asked him suddenly.

“Oh, hell, I don’t know. I guess that somebody on my floor would sneak in some booze and I’d end up telling embarrassing stories about how my sisters threatened to cry unless I played ‘wedding’ with them.”

The witch made a “hmmm” noise. “Your little sisters are pretty cute.”

But Bloodstone grunted in annoyance. “You know, that was gross enough when Kurumu asked me if I thought my **cousin** was cute, even if Laura **is** my age.”

Yukari giggled. “How’s she doing? Laura, right?”

He thought about how to answer, since he hadn’t heard much of anything from Laura lately except about the graffiti of “BEWARE THE MAN WHO SPEAKS IN HANDS” on the back wall of her school. And he didn’t especially want to think about **that** if he could help it either. “Pretty good, I guess. She’s going out with this huge basketball player now, she said.”

“Huge basketball player, huh? Oh, so you’re into **that** kind of thing,” Yukari teased.

Bloodstone was about to protest when he spotted something moving against the sky. For a second he thought it was one of the chained souls, but then realized it wasn’t glowing. It was pumping long, tattered wings to propel itself through the air.

And it was coming straight at them.

Its frayed old wings were those of a bat, and around its mouth was a set of vicious steel jaws. Its skin was graying and covered in withered purple veins, but there was no mistaking it: this creature was a vampire. An ancient, degenerate vampire, but it looked like they had another fight on their hands already.

“Get ready, Yukari,” Bloodstone whispered.

“Wait, Nigeki…,” she whispered. “Something’s wrong.”

“Shit, you’re right,” he just had a chance to say before the airborne vampire let out an ear-piercing cry, and the ground around them shook and then exploded. Pale, rotting hands erupted from the dirt around the path as a gang of zombies dragged themselves into view. Yukari screamed but brandished her wand and sent a wash tub crashing down on the nearest zombie’s head.

“Yukari, get ready to combine again!” Bloodstone ordered. But suddenly the flying vampire went diving between Bloodstone and Yukari then pulled back up into the sky, scattering them with the force of the air as it went past them. As Bloodstone looked up the sky was obscured by a gang of moaning zombies.

And from behind a crypt not far away, another zombie in a tattered suit watched the unfolding chaos with a smile on his face. He spun a tattered top hat on the tip of one finger, flipped it back onto place on his head, and melted into the shadows to wait for his chance.

 

XXX

 

            **Well, here it finally is. Not super happy with it myself, adapting Atmosfear into a story arc sounded better in my head. Just one chapter to go, though.**


	10. Chapter 21 - Thrill Me

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 21 – Thrill Me**

 

            Ordinary vampire teen Nigeki Hitoribo had finally been allowed to leave his family’s home after being confined there most of his life, and it seemed getting to be around monsters his own age was finally allowing him to hold back the dark creature fighting for release inside of him.

But eventually his secret was discovered, and to be allowed to stay at Youkai Academy he agreed to act as an agent of the head of the school, looking into dangers to the supernatural world they inhabit.

Most recently he’d been drafted into helping solve an emergency by a beautiful Shinigami: a group of monsters calling themselves the Harbingers had managed to escape from their captivity in a pocket of Hell, and were bent on capturing a series of magical talismans that would allow them to escape into the world of the living.

            Although bedeviled by a strange being calling himself the Gatekeeper, not only has Nigeki managed to capture two of the talismans, or Keystones, but another is in the possession of Simon Belmont, age-old vampire hunter.

            As another of the Harbingers, an evil vampire herself, attacks Nigeki, will alliances be formed or broken in this three-way struggle?

 

XXX

 

            Again the withered vampire came diving at them and Bloodstone braced himself before they crashed into him then suddenly hooked him under the arms and haul him into the air. His blood ran cold as they climbed higher and higher, close enough that he could see the scarred, snarling and demonic faces of the evil souls hanging in chains from the black sky. Even to an inhabitant of the Makai Realm like him they were a fearful sight.

            “Give me the Keystones,” the attacking vampire purred in a silky feminine voice that didn’t belong coming out of the steel-lined jaws of the pale monstrosity in front of him. “Or would you rather feel the bite of Countess Elisabeth Bathory?”

            He grabbed her by the neck and squeezed with all his strength then kneed her in the stomach. Her grip on him weakened enough for him to pull free. “Don’t flatter yourself,” he snarled as he kicked off her chest and went into freefall.

            On the ground Yukari screamed as a growling zombie grabbed at her cape and she ripped open the fastening and ducked away, letting him take it. Her wand flashed and a wash tub fell from the sky and clobbered him, knocking him face-first into the dirt.

            Bloodstone came crashing down on the thickest part of the zombie horde. He kicked the nearest one so hard there was a sound like a thunderclap as they were sent careening out of sight into the sky. But by attacking one of them he’d gained the attention of the rest. Rotted hands clawed at his thinly-protected arms and legs, and Bloodstone snarled behind his mask as the zombies piled on top of him and brought him down.

            In this new form he’d had since he’d gotten that Sacred Gear, his inherent abilities as Bloodstone had been locked away. Even the peak of his physical power was restrained. But maybe there was another answer.

            He shrugged his shoulders and flailed his arms, pushing the zombies back long enough for him to snatch one of the Keystones off his belt and focus his energy through it.

            A stream of dark power erupted from the Keystone, taking the form of a flock of screeching, biting vampire bats. Inwardly he wished for something less cliché, but results were the important thing. “Yukari! Get ready to fuse—”

            But he turned in her direction and for just a second he froze in terror. A pair of zombies had grabbed the young witch and were twisting her arms, while one yanked her wand out of her hands. Yukari gave a scream, and Bloodstone had already closed half the distance between them. He brought back an arm aimed at the nearest zombie’s head when all of a sudden something hit him between the shoulders like a wrecking ball and knocked him down, but he went skidding for another fifteen feet from the incredible force of the blow.

            He hadn’t even had the chance to push himself out of the dirt when someone kicked him onto his back and jagged steel jaws closed violently around the edges of his mask. It was Bathory, the weird bear trap-like attachment around her mouth springing open and then snapping down on his mask even harder and cracking the lenses.

            His body started to quiver with a feeling of cold desperation as the decayed vampire snapped down on his mask again and the teeth punched through the armor and totally shattered one lens. Bloodstone pounded at Bathory’s ribs with his gauntleted fists and hunks of mask fell off as her jaws held on every inch of the way. Finally her jaws came loose and she stumbled back a few steps, but behind the steel trap she was grinning in evil satisfaction at the ragged hole she’d torn in Bloodstone’s mask.

            Then in the blink of an eye she’d dashed up to Bloodstone and punched him in the face where she’d ripped his mask away. Yellow and green stars flashed in his eye for a second before he recovered and threw a punch at Bathory’s head but she dodged to the side at the last second and his fist went wide. She jumped and kicked him in the stomach, staggering him, then while she was still in the air Bathory raked the edge of her wing across his face sending up a shower of sparks from the force.

            Bloodstone reeled but Bathory only kept on coming, pummeling him with blindingly-fast kicks that seemed to pierce right through his armor. He saw another kick coming a second before it connected with his face and tried to duck under it but he was too slow and her heel smashed into him, shattering the other lens on his mask as he was knocked spinning.

            The world seemed to blur and somewhere in the distance he could hear Yukari squealing in fear, but if it was because of the zombies holding her or the pummeling he was taking, he didn’t know. His vision cleared after a second and he froze as he saw Bathory taking to the air and flying at him like a winged missile. He held his ground, waiting for any sign of what to do next, then dodged to one side only for Bathory to bank and plow into him. Bloodstone went flying and hit the side of a stone crypt, cracking the wall and he was pretty sure he heard something crack in his back too.

            For a second his vision totally darkened before slowly focusing again, and in the next instant Bathory flew down and closed her hands around his neck in a stranglehold. He was a vampire, one of the greatest of all monsters, but his abilities had been repressed his entire life. His instincts were sharp but they’d never been honed, since his family had been afraid any violence might awake the darkness in him, the Tear.

            Bathory had obviously not suffered the restrictions he had. She tightened her grip on his neck then held on as she jumped up and started kicking and tearing at his chest with the claws on her feet. Bloodstone desperately punched and chopped at Bathory’s shoulders to try and knock her off as her onslaught started to shred through his armor. She just grinned at him as his blows didn’t seem to faze her at all and then suddenly lunged for his face with her steel jaws again.

            …and Bloodstone grabbed her around the throat himself and pulled her forward to deliver a crushing headbutt that echoed across the area and smashed off most of what was left of his mask. Bathory was dazed for just a second and as fast as he could Bloodstone grabbed her by a wrist and ankle and slammed her through the wall of the crypt where she’d had him pinned. The structure creaked in protest and then collapsed on top of Bathory with a roar of crumbling stone.

            Bloodstone let himself have a faint sigh of relief as it seemed like his vicious opponent had finally ben taken out. He was turning back to check on Yukari when there was another roar followed by a chorus of angry screams. A wave of pummeling force hit him from behind and knocked him off the ground. Before he even landed tiny fangs and were biting and chewing at his armor; he’d been covered in tiny vampire bats.

            He barely felt it when he hit the ground, still covered in biting bats. Every bite took another bit of his strength…if he could just get a second to struggle free and collect himself, he might still get himself together in time to fight back. Bloodstone failed his arms and pushed his way through them for a second and rolled a few times along the ground, finally getting into the clear.

            But then suddenly Bathory was standing over him and stomped down on his chest, aiming one of the Keystone talismans at his head, with the other one in her other hand. She must’ve grabbed them she’d attacked him before…how far behind the rest of his kind **was** he? Bloodstone leaned back to see the two zombies still holding Yukari and one had left long bleeding ribbons on her arm with its jagged fingernails.

            “Finish her off,” Bathory commanded her undead minions. “And as for you—”

            “ **Know your place**.”

            “What?” Bathory asked and turned toward the voice just before a kick snapped up and caught in the jaw, denting the iron trap on her mouth and smashing it closed. Standing there with an impassive look her face was Moka Akashiya.

            “A rotted ancient thing like you deserves to be down here, even if you are a vampire,” she declared. Bathory lunged at her but Moka was ready and a ferocious scissor kick to the jaw sent Bathory tumbling and the Keystones flying from her hands. She turned to Yukari next, then dashed over to the zombies holding Yukari with incredible speed and sent their head flying into the distance with a pair of blindingly fast kicks. “Find a safe place to wait this out. And make sure there’s no more zombies around there first,” she ordered the young witch, and with a silent nod Yukari scurried out of sight.

            Then she stood over Bloodstone, not bothering to help him up.“You make our **entire species** look weak,” she said, the words oozing out of her mouth dripping with scorn. “Look at you. Even with the power that jewel gives you, you’re a total wreck. That armor’s almost gone.”

            She turned and looked over her should at Bathory who’d just gotten up and was glaring death at her. Moka’s response was a small, cocky smirk. “Let me **show** you how a vampire’s supposed to be.”

 

            XXX

 

            “I know I say it all the time, but kids shouldn’t be involved in things like this,” Felicia sighed in frustration as she finished another walk around the portal to make sure nothing was sneaking up on this.

            Toriel said nothing, continuing to read her book in the light of a fireball she’d conjured that floated in the air above her head, making her fur take on a strange yellow hue in its flickering light. Felicia scowled. “Didn’t hear you me?” she asked grumpily.

            “I heard you,” Toriel replied without looking up. “And a year ago I suppose I would’ve automatically agreed with you. But a child made it through the underground past a whole civilization of monsters who wanted her dead so she could return to the surface. In the end that child set them all free without hurting a soul.”

            Felicia frowned. “So you’re saying you’re okay with this??”

            “My, people love to jump to conclusions, don’t they?” Toriel said and snapped her book shut. “Of course I don’t think children should be soldiers in a perfect world…Felicia, wasn’t it?” The catwoman nodded, a grim look on her face, and Toriel went on. “But they’re going to be the ones running the world someday. We can’t shelter them forever.”

            Again Felicia glared. “I’m not saying **forever** , but these aren’t even old enough **drive** …” She stopped and lightly jerked her head to one side.

            To her immense relief, Toriel didn’t reply with words. Instead she started casting surreptitious glances around through the decayed buildings around them while the fireball danced unobtrusively above her head. “I wasn’t aware cars were the measure of being in charge of one’s future,” she murmured.

            “It is for most kids back where I’m from,” Felicia replied, slowly twisting an ear toward what sounded like the faintest sound of a footstep on broken stone.

            “How unfortunate for them,” Toriel answered. “But I suppose people feeling they need to express themselves through shows of strength is a common belief.”

            “You think owning a car is a show of strength?”

            Toriel shrugged. “Isn’t it? It’s showing their peers they have capabilities that their peers might not, and keeps them from feeling they need to depend on someone else, which makes them look weak.”

            Felicia looked at her, squinting in mild confusion. “This is about the last thing I expected to be talking about in a place like this.”

            “And I thought I’d be dead before I ended up in Hell. It seems we’re all having surprises today.” Suddenly Toriel spotted a pair of glowing points of light like hot coals floating in a narrow path between two buildings. Before they could move a pulse of energy seemed to hit them like a wave, then everything around them seemed to turn green and start and crack open revealing countless more burning, staring eyes. Felicia gasped and went into a fighting crouch.

            But Toriel narrowed her eyes and whipped around toward the alley before a cascade of tiny fireballs shot from her fingertips. A cry of pain went up and a stooped woman with a beak-like nose sticking out of her hideous face limped into sight, and pointed a curled black fingernail at Toriel, who replied with a faint smile.

            The witch screeched, “How could you have seen through that? Who are you?”

            “I am Toriel, keeper of the ruins…no, I mean, I’m a teacher, and I’m not about to let someone like you go free from here, Harbinger.”

            The witch said nothing, and neither did Felicia as she shook off the illusion Toriel had been able to see through and dropped to all fours. “Your move,” Toriel said warningly.

            “I am Anne de Chantraine, witch of legend. That was the merest sample of my power,” the witch said quietly. “Let me pass through that gate with you, and there’s so much magic I can share…You could be rulers even among monsters.”

            “I’ve been a ruler,” Toriel replied. “I’m done with it.”

            “I don’t want anything you’re offering,” Felicia growled.

            The witch hissed in anger, then gasped in surprise as a barrage of Toriel’s fireballs came at her.

 

XXX

 

            Bathory hissed and snarled, waving her hands at the sides of the path as if trying to summon another group of zombies, but the steel frame around her jaws had been jammed shut by Moka’s first attack and nothing happened.

            She dashed at Moka with wings spread wide, but Moka ran straight at her and smashed her knee into the ancient vampire’s jaw. While she was still in the air Moka went into a spin-kick and her foot shot like a streak of light into Bathory’s shoulder. Bathory went flying from the force of the blow and she’d gone twenty feet already before a sound like thunder ripped through the air, the sound of Moka’s awesome blow catching up.

            With a crash Bathory hit the ground and a cloud of dust went up from where she landed and clutched her wings around herself as she rolled across the broke ground. She grabbed a tombstone on the side of the path and struggled to her feet. Moka charged down the path and was starting into another kick when Bathory suddenly darted around her, leaned back and braced herself on top of the tombstone with her hands and started slashing at Moka’s unarmored side with her taloned feet. Moka gritted her teeth but jumped, lunging for Bathory’s throat and grabbing it in an iron grip. She slammed Bathory’s head against the ground a few times before managing to get her feet underneath her, spin around and hurl Bathory away like a hammer in track and field.

            The evil vampire spun over and over through the air as she came down in a long arc. Before she disappeared into the tangle of broken buildings and crypts her wings flared out. She came flying back and went into a dive at Moka, who jumped and launched a flying kick but Bathory suddenly went into a spin and battered Moka again and again with her wings. Moka started to fall but as Bathory went flying by for another pass, Moka’s arm whipped out and grabbed the other vampire by the ankle. Bathory gave a cry of surprise and Moka dragged her feet on the ground to slow the two of them down and Bathory gave off a squawk of rage before she phit the ground.

            Immediately Moka jumped on her and the pair of vampires were exchanging punches and chops so hard they knocked Bloodstone an inch off the ground with every impact. Finally Moka rolled off and kicked Bathory into the air before going into a spinning kick that connected with a crack that made Bloodstone look away.

            Bathory went spinning away out of sight. There was a crash and crumbling of stone somewhere in the distance, and Bloodstone almost thought he could hear the yowl of a cat in the middle of it all. He decided he’d rather not know what had made that noise as he walked over to where Moka stood silently. “Not bad,” he said evenly, trying not to sound too easily impressed.

            She whipped away from him with a dismissive “tch,” her ice-white hair forming a mesmerizing ribbon in the air for a second. “I’m showing you what a proper vampire can do because you have no idea. Don’t try and tell me how I’m doing.”

            “Fine, I’ll tell you: you’re all idiots!” a sharp, cackling voice called out. Standing up the path from them was a grinning zombie in a battered top hat and suit.

            And he had a Keystone in each hand. The two Bathory had grabbed off Bloodstone when she’d attacked.

            “Hand those over,” Bloodstone demanded.

            The zombie sneered. “You could barely handle a dried up old bat like Elizabeth Bathory, you think you can give the god of death any trouble?” Bloodstone took a step and clenched his fists, but the zombie let out a high sniggering laugh and Bloodstone stopped. Suddenly the zombie’s decayed features and arrogant smile, combined with his laugh...could it be? “The Gatekeeper?”

            He got no answer. The zombie deftly plunged one Keystone into his pocket but held the other out toward them and a blast of painful music ripped from it, scattering Bloodstone and Moka. “See you on the other side!” the zombie called as the haze from his attack cleared and he was already cresting a hill and out of sight.

            Moka elbowed Bloodstone in the side and scowled. “What’s wrong with you?! You were going to attack and then you just stopped!” she yelled at him

            “Didn’t you see it?” he replied. “The way he looked, the way he sounded, he was just like that Gatekeeper. And I don’t need to piss him off and be sent back to that Black Hole of his.”

            “Then what **are** you going to do?” Moka demanded. “He’s got those stones and he’s getting away.” Without waiting for an answer she ran off down the path after the zombie.

            Yukari emerged from the shadows with a worried look on her face. “Does Moka hate us?” she asked quietly. Bloodstone patted her slowly on the shoulder.

            “Well, she hates **me** , but I don’t think I can really be the kind of vampire she thinks we should be. And that’s not the Moka you go to your club with…” Bloodstone replied.

            “Which one’s the real one, then?” Yukari asked with hesitation. “That one scares me…”

            Bloodstone clutched the Rosario again. “Let’s go find her and help her with that zombie. Otherwise nobody’s going to be going to their club anymore.”

           

            XXX

 

            A wave of supernatural force flew from Anne de Chantraine’s warped black fingers down the road, turning the ground into a mess of clay. A wave of fire jumped from Toriel’s fingers and formed a line on the ground in front of her, then she pushed forward with the flames hardening the clay into something solid again as she closed in on the old witch.

            “Looks like we’re not as powerless as you thought,” Toriel declared.

“You look like the animals I used to sacrifice to talk to demons!” the witch retorted.

            Toriel sighed and just sent a spiral of small fireballs flying through the air at de Chantraine. It had seemed like it might be amusing to trade barbs with their opponent besides helping with Felicia’s plan, but hearing it coming at her, it just sounded like a bully’s sneering insults.

De Chantraine hissed and dashed back along the path, farther and farther away from the shimmering portal that was an easier, a quicker way out of this miserable place than the one she and the other Harbingers had planned. But she had a way past that fire-spewing goat, and grinned a mouth full of crooked teeth as she took out a Keystone from a fold in her dress.

The barrage of fire stopped as Toriel tried to see what her opponent was going to try next when suddenly the witch shot into the air like she’d been grabbed and thrown by some giant invisible hand. She flew over Toriel’s head and landed on the other side. With a wicked smirk over her shoulder, de Chantraine went into a limping run for the portal Botan had created.

She stuck out one hand for its shimmering surface, then screamed as a fireball from Toriel exploded against her back. Another came sizzling through the air and she scurried away from the portal just before it hit the ground. Anne de Chantraine raised her twisted hands to the darkened sky. “Come to me, murder of scavengers! Pick clean the bones of his unclean beast!” she called.

Toriel narrowed her eyes and was about to summon her power again when she heard the fluttering of hundreds of wings in the air and in another second she was surrounded by squawking, pecking crows.

The goat-monster cried out and tried to spray fire through the air to disperse them, but even as the fire jumped from her furred fingers embers were pushed back onto Toriel because the attacking birds were right on top of her. A dozen small fires erupted on her dress and she screamed as she dropped to the ground and rolled back and forth across the dirt trying to put them out, and the whole time the crows kept close, pecking at her furiously and ignoring the flames spreading across some of their own feathers.

            While she was distracted, Anne de Chantraine pointed the Keystone in her hand at a fork in the road between her and Toriel, and a massive iron gate formed, blocking the road. Toriel threw a massive cone of fire and scattered the crows all over her, got to her feet and charged down the road and pounded on the gate. The witch grinned and started to step through the portal.

            But without warning a streak of white tackled her out of nowhere and slugged her hard on the side of her face with a massive paw. It was Felicia, who de Chantraine hadn’t even noticed slip away. “How did you…” she croaked in disbelief.

            “I snuck around the road behind one of those buildings while you had all your attention focused on Toriel. She’s really good at holding people’s attention, turns out.”

            There was an oddly pleased-sounding “Hmph!” from the other side of the gate de Chantraine created.

            “Hand over those Keystones,” Felicia demanded.

            De Chantraine laughed in her face. “And what **possible** reason have I got to cooperate with **you** , worm?? I’m already in Hell! What more can you do to me?”

            Felicia arched an eyebrow. “I guess I could let that guy pick your pocket.”

            “What?!” A disembodied arm was indeed grabbing one of the Keystones out of the waist of her skirt and then went rocketing backward through the air to attach to the shoulder a zombie in a battered suit and top hat, who grinned at her while holding her other Keystone in his other hand. “SAMEDI! I knew you were just in this for yourself!” de Chantraine screamed.

            “Too bad they were faster than you!” he crowed. Toriel started running down another road in his direction but Samedi just smirked and held up one Keystone over his head, then flew away out of sight, snatched away by its power.

            “Where’s he going…?” Felicia wondered, worry in her voice.

            “The Well of Fears,” de Chantraine growled, and Felicia gave her a probing look.

 

XXX

 

            The light of the Keystone in his rotting hand faded and Baron Samedi came to a gentle stop on a road of broken flagstones. It hadn’t quite gotten him where he’d wanted to go, but he couldn’t achieve his goal there yet. It wouldn’t be long, though…

            The zombie pocketed his magic talisman and walked down the road toward a hill in the distance. Even at that distance he could see a small black dome rising out of the ground, the object of his entire operation. The power sealed there would make him unstoppable, if he only he had what he needed to unlock it.

            He kept up his casual walk as he spotted the figures approaching out of the darkness on both of his sides. That was right, let them think they’d caught him by surprise. It would be even sweeter when they realized the truth.

            “Another Harbinger?” Bloodstone whispered. “Do we attack?”

            “Not after how useful you were last time,” Moka said dismissively, then looked down at Yukari suddenly. “Hey kid, want to show the big scary vampire boy how much butt you can kick?”

            Yukari swallowed. “Um…yes?” she replied, casting an uncertain glance up at Bloodstone, who looked back at her through his nearly shattered mask. She gripped her wand. “Let’s go.”

            “I’ll bet you’re a lot more help than **he** is,” Moka smiled and charged out of the darkness with Yukari stumbling out behind her. Bloodstone started to follow but Moka looked over her shoulder and froze him to the spot with her fiery eyes. “Hold it right there, zombie!” she snapped.

            “Yes, stop right there,” said another voice as an armored figured who stepped into sight from the other side of the road. It was Kamen Rider Revenant.

            Baron Samedi jumped back in melodramatic terror. “Oh no! I’ve been cornered! Which of you gets to be the one to chain me up again???”

            “Don’t toy with me, Harbinger,” Revenant growled and took a menacing step closer to him. “You’re nothing compared to Dracula, let me assure you.”

            “Not yet!” Baron Samedi said with a smirk. Revenant reared back his arm to crack his whip, Yukari leveled her wand and Moka went into an offensive stance, but Baron Samedi just tipped his hat off his head, exposing a moldy exposed brain. Yukari gagged and Samedi giggled at her reaction as he turned the hat upside down and something dropped into his hand.

            Another Keystone. The first one he’d been given by that guy in the mask. The Keystone had inspired his entire scheme with the other Harbingers. The one he’d been saving as an ace in the hole

            Moka was about to lunge at him when Samedi exclaimed, “I declare that space **occupied!** ”

            All at once the three of them were encased in a softly glowing cube of light. Moka threw herself against the side again and again but just bounced off despite her awesome strength. “What would be fair?” Baron Samedi mused. “I know! If all three of you manage to roll twelves in a row, you can go free!”

            “What??” Moka demanded. A second later her answer came when a pair of dice suddenly dropped from the top of the cube and landed at her feet.

            “And while you’re busy with my little game, I’ll just take this,” Samedi said as he reached through the side of the cube helped himself to the Keystone on Revenant’s belt, with Revenant’s arm passing right through Samedi’s as he tried to stop the thieving zombie. “See you on doomsday, kids! It’ll be here sooner than you think!” Samedi laughed in victory than ran away down the road.

            Bloodstone charged out and hammered on the side of the cube with his fist but a dull boom was the only thing he produced. “Not us,” Revenant interrupted him. “Stop that zombie, he’s the key to all this!” The armored vampire looked over at all of them. Yukari looked away, probably terrified at what might happen next, and Moka met his eyes for a second, narrowed them disdainfully then looked away. Bloodstone clenched his fists and ran down the road after Samedi.

            Yukari picked up the dice off the ground and absently tossed them in her hand a few times. “Guess I’ll go first…”

 

XXX

 

            Running at a speed no-one would’ve ever expected from a zombie Baron Samedi reached the dome of black stone sticking out of the ground at the top of the hill. If he’d still been alive his lungs would’ve been burning from his sprint, but his joints didn’t even ache anymore, and he went up to the dome and placed a Keystone in a notch in the side.

            As Bloodstone came charging up Baron Samedi was placing the sixth and final Keystone into its groove on the stone dome. A wicked smile formed on his dry purple lips. “Hey, I didn’t really expect an audience this time, but what’s a show without a crowd! You can have a front row seat for the end of the world, kiddo!”

            “I bet you aren’t much without those rocks of yours,” Bloodstone retorted, ignoring the zombie’s glib remarks.

            “And I bet you ain’t much without that fancy belt of **yours** , kid!” Samedi sneered. “But then, you probably ain’t much **with** it either!”

            Bloodstone scowled and jumped at him but as if he could see the attack coming from a mile away Samedi ducked under it then spun back to his feet and danced to the other side of the stone dome. “Looks like I was right! Don’t mess with me kid, the Baron sees everything!”

            The vampire got up and was about to charge Baron Samedi again when the ground started to tremble. The top of the dome split into six sections that slid into the recesses of the dome.

Inside was a rolling cloud of…energy was the only thing Bloodstone could think of to describe it. Now that it was free it surged up into a giant mushroom cloud, filling the sky with white light for a second.

Then part of the cloud extended out like a spike straight at Bloodstone, then stopped, hovering inches away from his shattered mask. He tried to jump back and get some distance between, but whatever power was gathered inside seemed to anchor his feet to the ground.

And then he saw it.

A city against a poisoned red sky, skyscrapers crumbling and falling against each other, crushing anything inside or underneath them. Winged shapes flew through the skies throwing weapons or blasts to topple another building or stop the pathetic interference of some defender of the city below.

Then he saw something else, barren ground littered with the remains of humans and monsters alike. The view shifted again, to the ground splitting open and cockroaches the size of cows, crawling out of the depths to make the world their own.

Far in the distance of this horror landscape he could then see a scrawny American man with a mop of brown hair holding up a video game with a symbol Bloodstone could just barely make out but what looked like “VIII,” then collapsing on his knees with a cry of despair escaping his lips.

Then he saw Baron Samedi in an old, battered coffin buried deep underground. What looked like panic gripped his weathered face as he banged and clawed on the roof trying to get it to open, but he knew it was useless. Still he cried out and banged on the lid of the coffin for help that couldn’t hear him, again and again…again and again…again and again…

And he knew what this was. It was fear. A concentration of raw, soul-crushing terror. This was what Samedi’s plan had been to gather the Keystones and getting the other Harbingers to help him had been building up to. This was the power he was going to use to escape, and the power he was going to use to commit whatever evil he wanted once he was free.

“Pretty neat, eh?” Baron Samedi crowed. “They said it wasn’t real, or it was in some other part of the jail for the damned…but here it is! The Well of Fears! Who can stand up to **that**? NO-ONE!!!”

Bloodstone didn’t answer. Instead he was whispering, “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…”

 

XXX

 

Even from almost a mile away, Felicia and Toriel could see the power surging out of the Well of Fears. The catwoman felt a prickle of unease run down her spine but shook it off. “I don’t know about this…” she murmured regardless.

“I thought you fought a cosmic demigod once,” Toriel reminded her.

“I had help then. A lot of help,” Felicia said, and for a second a longing look settled in her eyes. “Jon was there…”

“We better keep going,” Toriel gently reminded her. “I have a feeling those kids are close to whatever’s going on. Somehow kids like that always are.”

Felicia nodded and started sprinting across the stone path on all fours and it was all Toriel could do to try and keep behind her. “That something you know from experience, huh??” Felicia called back over her shoulder.

“Yes!” Toriel panted. “Lots of children came through the underground while I was still there! All of them found their way to the most dangerous places…but only one made it out alive!”

That remark made Felicia blanche and she ran even harder, not noticing as Toriel fell behind and finally had to stop to catch her breath. Toriel was proud that her magic proved to be as powerful as ever, but it seemed like life in the ruins had left her softer than she’d realized.

            As she sucked in air Toriel spotted a dark shape flying down the road behind her and two more on the ground. She raised her hands and prepared to defend herself until they came closer, and she recognized a girl with a bright blue ponytail and the oar she was sitting on. Botan was finally back.

            “Oh, **there**  you are,” Toriel said through panting breaths. “And those two are with you, I presume?”

            “They’re my pros,” Botan replied proudly.

            “I assume **she’s** not the one you brought us here to kill, then,” said one of them bluntly, a short human man with a shock of spiky black hair that spread out like a fan atop his head, decorated with a crooked white streak running up and over the front of it.

            Botan gave him a weary look like she’d heard this kind of remark from him many times in the past. “No, Hiei. What we’re looking for is over **there…** ”

 

XXX

 

            Baron Samedi gazed into the cloud of pure, primal **fear** , but did it with a manic grin on his face. In the middle of all the horrified faces he could see one in particular that belonged to the young vampire he was facing. Nigeki Hitoribo, drowning in an ocean of black water. Evil grinning faces formed inside it and small waves that looked like hands formed out of the darkness and tried to push him under.

            Then the cloud surged upward and the vision was gone. Samedi watched as it spread itself wider across the top and of the area, and a throbbing glow formed in the middle as the power concentrated itself. Soon there would be enough power there to even break out of a prison like this…and after that there’d be enough power for him to be a god in his new world. A true god, not just a god whose name he borrowed.

            Right then Felicia slipped into the shadow of a tombstone at the edge of the clearing and tried to figure out what was going on. Baron Samedi was just watching the cloud gathering overhead, but so was Bloodstone, which didn’t seem right at all. And if he wasn’t attacking the dangerous zombie…she had a feeling she knew what that meant.

            She ducked from shadow to shadow until she was close enough to hear the thing htat confirmed her fears: “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…”

            After a second she was sure Baron Samedi was more focused on the cloud than on Bloodstone, and she skittered over to him and hid in the shadow of the Well of Fears. “Come on kid, don’t do this to me,” she sighed. “I never been on a babysitting job before. If you go and get turned into a demon on me I’ll get a bad rep and nobody’ll give me another gig.”

            “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…” Felicia pinched her nose and sighed again, and reached through the hole in Bloodstone’s mask and gave **him** a pinch on his nose, but all he did was repeat once again, “All is ruin, all is waste, all will fall to the ground and crumble to dust…” A black shell was crawling over his neck and starting to spread to his chin.

            “Oh god, what’d we do last time?? The girls let you drink their blood so you could transform and shake it off…but you’re already transformed now, and your transformation’s different now…what do I do?” Felicia grabbed Bloodstone by the head and yanked his eyes away from the cloud which only made him fall face-first into the dirt.

After a second, though, he turned his head to the side and made contact with his exposed eye, the fear's hold over him seemingly broken by losing his contact with it. “Miss Bast?” he asked, the black shell still crawling up over his chin.

“You can just call me Felicia, kid. Or Mistress, I guess, if we’re going to do this whole student-teacher thing right,” she said, hoping it would break up the fear and tension of the rest of the night up to that point. It seemed to be working as he smirked up at her weakly. “Look, kid, some apocalyptic shit’s about to go down. Can you help me take that guy down?”

            “I don’t think so,” Nigeki replied. He scraped at the black shell on his neck but it didn’t move. “If I look at that thing again I’ll probably go crazy and attack you too.”

            “HEY! Talking to yourself, dirtbag?!” cackled a voice, and Baron Samedi walked around the edge of the Well to see them hiding behind it. “Oooh! I like your girlfriend, kid! Maybe I’ll keep her! She can be my first queen!”

            Felicia shook Bloodstone furiously and tried to pull him to his feet. “Look, I know I said before you shouldn’t be mixed up in this kind of thing at your age, but I take it back!” she cried. “We’ve gotta destroy this thing and I don’t think I’m strong enough by myself! Get up, kid! Let’s kick some ass!”

            Bloodstone stopped clawing at the Tear shell forming on his face. He’d only heard Felicia talking about how much she didn’t agree with having someone as young as him fighting. But finally fighting against his problems was the only thing that had gotten him somewhere in keeping the Tear inside him from taking him over. And if he got to fight by her side for real…she’d already helped save the world, think of what he’d learn, what he could use to fight his own inner demons from her example. “I will,” he said. “Let’s fight.”

            “Oooh! I’m so scared!” Baron Samedi laughed.

            He should’ve been. “ **Pride Heart! Synch!** ”

 

XXX

 

            Power blazed from the Joining Nexus running through Bloodstone’s body, even outshining the light from the cloud of fear for a second before it retreated back into his body, reformed by the fusion.

            Baron Samedi’s superior smirk faded for a second as he saw that they’d become. Bloodstone was leaning forward now with a feline cant to his back and arms, like gathering a savage power in his body and waiting for just the moment to unleash it to devastate his enemy. A silver tail emerged from his back and a ball of electric fire glowed at the end, matching the sparks cracking at the end of the cables hanging down from the back of his mask now like a mass of whips. His mask had been repaired by the power of his fusion and now the smooth mouthplate had formed into a pair of jaws lined with steel fangs, and lodged in the armor over his heart was a blue crystal ball with three curved slash marks in a line inside of it.

            “Oh no!” Baron Samedi laughed. “Please…don’t cough up a hairball at me!”

            Bloodstone sprang, seeming to disappear from where he’d been and to the air above Baron Samedi. His fist flashed out and smashed into the zombie’s ribs the other cracked against his chin with a speed Samedi never saw coming. The fused hunter raised a fist over his head and brought it down on Samedi, but this time he was ready and spun out of the way then danced around the side of the Well of Fears away from Bloodstone.

            The armored vampire’s hand went to his belt and unholstered the Hunter’s Myriad. The rectangular device reacted to his new form and flipped up from one side, doubling its length, then split it two. One half attached itself to the fingertips of his right hand, red claws five inches long jumping from them. The other attached itself to the front of his right boot and a long blade of blue metal jumped from the end.

            “Not bad,” Baron Samedi said impassively. “Let me show you some of **my** toys!” He held his arms out to his sides and a tendril of smoke snaked out of the cloud above them and formed itself into a giant gray wolf whose shoulder was as high as Bloodstone’s head, its lips pulled back angrily exposing its sharp teeth as puffs of black smoke . Then the wolf started to spread as if doubling itself and then forming into a towering praying mantis that seemed to be made of shards of blue, red and purple glass.

            Then with no warning the mantis swung one giant gleaming arm at Bloodstone’s head, but he crouched and pounced, crashing into the mantis’s chest claws extended and spraying tiny bits of the glass making up its body all over the ground. It tried to bring its arms together in front of it to crush him but Bloodstone kicked his bladed foot into its chest and vaulted backwards, dragging his foot up and slicing a deep furrow into the mantis’s before his foot came free from the top and he flipped the air away from it.

            The wolf darted over and waited for Bloodstone to land with its mouth wide open for him, smoke dripping out from between its teeth. “ **Rolling Slice!** ” announced Bloodstone’s belt as he tucked his legs in against him and went into a backwards somersault. The blade on his boot cut into the wolf over and over as he spun, getting a pained yelp out of the wolf until Bloodstone touched the ground again. He immediately bolted out of the way as the wolf snapped its jaws at him, missing by seconds.

            His speed was blinding in this form as he demonstrated running a circle around the giant glass mantis, it clumsily turning repeatedly to try and face him so it could line up an attack. The wolf came charging up and Bloodstone jumped and clawed the side of its face, distracting it with pain just long enough for the mantis’s bladed arm to sink into its back instead of Bloodstone’s. The wolf howled in agony then turned and bite into the arm of the glass mantis, who slashed at its other side to try and shake the angry animal off.

            Bloodstone growled and snapped his steel fangs together. Both of his halves were predators by their nature, and couldn’t be satisfied watching their enemies fight among themselves. Bloodstone jumped at the wolf’s back, “ **Delta Blade!** ” coming from his belt. He lashed out with a straight upward kick that slashed up the wolf’s back then as he came down held out his claws and raked them across the wolf’s back.

            Samedi’s creations untangled themselves from their attack on each other and turned to face Bloodstone again. The wolf zigzagged from side to side as it came at Bloodstone, coming at him in short jumps, probably to keep him guessing where it would attack from. Suddenly it pounced, jaws open wide and smoke spewing from his maw.

            But Bloodstone’s predatory instincts were sharper than ever and he jumped straight at the wolf as it made its move. “ **Tumble Bat!** ” He grabbed its shoulders with all his monstrous strength, claws digging into its flesh and black smoke flowing from it now too. Bloodstone pushed forward and the wolf landed on its back but they rolled again, Bloodstone bracing his legs on the wolf’s belly and as he hit the ground he kicked off, flipping the wolf into the air. It slammed into the ground with incredible force, and with a *POP* black smoke erupted out of its wounds, leaving nothing but a deflated skin.

            But as soon as Bloodstone was starting to savor the kill his back exploded with pain and a fountain of sparks that sent him flying through the air before he collected himself and landed in a somersault. The glass mantis scuttled after him, slashing at Bloodstone with its giant bladed arms but he dodged from side to side just a second ahead of it until his keen eyes spotted the shards of glass he’d hacked off it with his attacks before…

            Suddenly he broke away and went into a slide. “ **Sand Smash!** ” He kicked suddenly and violently sent a storm of jagged glass flying into the mantis, chipping off even more and after a second, an opening formed in its body that he could see something throbbing inside. Something like a nice juicy heart…

            “ **Panic Claw!** ” His clawed gauntlet flashed with energy as he jumped at the bug’s torso. It swiped its bladed arms at him but Bloodstone growled and reached out with his teeth sank them into the closer one then wrenched it off. He landed on the mantis and slammed his bladed boot into it to anchor himself then slashed at the opening exposing its heart. Huge flakes of glass flew off and peppered his armor. The mantis screamed in pain but screamed even louder as Bloodstone swung again and smashed its heart to pieces. It exploded into a million fragments, a few lodging themselves in Bloodstone’s armor.

            He didn’t care, turning to face Baron Samedi now his creations were out of the way. But the zombie only grinned. “Not bad,” he said, but then held his hands above his head. Tendrils of the cloud flowed down into him, through his fingertips, his eyes, his mouth…and he turned an evil grin on the fused hunter. “Let’s dance!” he said, then pointed one finger at Bloodstone and a blast of screaming skulls rushed at him.

 

XXX

 

            “Did you guys feels that?”

            “What?” asked the one called Hiei with cool sarcasm. “That immense burst of supernatural power just now? A blind man would’ve noticed it.”

            “Oh no,” Toriel whispered. She ran ahead of the group, going as fast as her fuzzy feet would take her. She dashed over another hill, down the other side and finally the Well of Fears was in sight.

            She could see Bloodstone dodging back and forth as Baron Samedi floated off the ground and fired blasts of glowing skulls, as big as he was, at the armored vampire. Bloodstone managed to dodge a few, but time seemed to slow down as Samedi suddenly whipped around and fired another skull-blast from both hands at once, hitting the ground where Bloodstone was just landing. A huge explosion went up and Bloodstone went flying, his body flickering, and when he hit the ground Felicia rolled away from him and didn’t get up.

            “Nice warmup,” Samedi said as he jerked his neck to one side and gave it a good crack. “Wonder how many others are going to manage that many dodges before they get blown away.”

            “Hey, handsome!” called a voice over his shoulder. He looked back and saw the Gatekeeper’s smirking face hovering there. “You’ve got trouble!”

            “You going to drop me in the ‘bleggol’? You can’t! Now **I’ve** got the power!” Baron Samedi grunted in surprise more than pain as a fireball exploded against his back.

            The Gatekeeper giggled. “Oh, I know I can’t. But you ain’t a god **yet**. This’ll teach you to steal my face!” Then he disappeared, his sniggering laugh hanging in the air.

            Samedi growled. “After I have this power figured out, I’m coming after you first, Gatekeeper,” he mumbled, then whirled to face his new opponents. Toriel stood there warming up another attack but behind her stood two human men, or so they looked at first. One was a dark-haired boy maybe a few years older than the kids who’d been getting into fights with the other Harbingers, but a bit more muscular and with a rougher look, like he’d actually been in fights and learned a couple things about what he was doing.

            The other was shorter with wild spiky hair and an impassive look on his face. A short sword hung from his belt in the back. “Is this it?” he asked as he looked at Baron Samedi, his tone flat and unimpressed.

            “And just who are you idiots supposed to be?” Samedi asked, sounding just as unimpressed.

            The taller boy stepped forward, arms akimbo, and announced, “Yusuke Urameshi, Spirit Detective—”

            “Oh,” Baron Samedi cut in. “That’s what Spirit Detectives look like now, eh? What do you want?”

            Yusukue recoiled and took a second to collect himself before he continued. “If you seal that well up again, maybe we can argue for a lighter sentence when the report for all this comes down.”

            “But you won’t do that, so we should probably just go to the end where we blast you,” Hiei added unemotionally.

            “You’re obviously the smart one,” Baron Samedi observed. Then he suddenly fired off a cloud of snapping skulls and dragon heads hissing lightning. His expression completely unmoved, Hiei easily jumped right over it and then Baron Samedi’s head, turned to face him again in midair and land with only a slight bend of his knees.

            Saying nothing, Hiei whipped his shirt off and moved a hand to the hilt of his sword. A mass of screaming faces of the damned formed from Baron Samedi’s rotted fingers but in a single second silver sparks seemed to erupt from all over it and Hiei was sheathing his sword even though the others never saw him draw it. The cloud of faces let out a last pitiful scream and then exploded into chunks of white that blew away a second later.

            “Try again, zombie,” Hiei said as emotionless as ever.

            “Oh, I think I will,” Baron Samedi replied, then suddenly whipped around to face Yusuke and the ground underneath him erupted with black iron chains that tried to throw themselves at his arms and neck. This wasn’t the first trap he’d found himself in and Yusuke threw himself forward, rolled twice and came out in a crouch with his fingertip pointed at Baron Samedi like a gun.

            Toriel gaped at him and had just about managed to find her voice to ask what he thought he was doing. Then he jerked back his hand and a glowing bullet actually shot from the tip and slammed into Baron Samedi’s head, knocking him spinning head over heels. Yusuke fired again but Samedi glowed brighter and froze himself upright before easily swatting Yusuke’s shot up into the sky.

            “Try that again, **spirit detective** ,” Samedi challenged and then pointed to his forehead. “Right here!”

            For a second Yusuke brought his finger up and aimed it at Samedi, but then suddenly he jumped, rolled and squeezed off two shots at the zombie’s side instead. Toriel threw a fireball as big as her head at Samedi when he turned toward Yusuke’s bullets and it exploded into cinders but every single shot made a direct hit and left no mark on Samedi at all. Hiei darted up, nothing but a blur of motion, and raked the tip of his katana across Samedi’s body over and over, just as fast.

            Nothing.

            “The well! Destroy the well!” Yusuke yelled and fired at it instead, Toriel sending a barrage of fireballs after it. They were about to hit the side when suddenly they slowed down, lifted higher and then over the edge of the well.

            “You can’t kill **fear** , idiots!” Samedi crowed. Withered hands jumped out of the ground and grabbed Toriel and Yusuke by their legs, pulling them down. Hiei jumped out of the way and straight at the floating zombie but Samedi just smirked and an invisible force grabbed the tip of his katana and yanked it up into the air away from Samedi’s throat where it’d been aimed. He dangled in the air, staring Baron Samedi in the face, but suddenly whipped away his headband revealing another eye in his forehead. It flickered with power and for a second Baron Samedi seemed mesmerized.

            But then the zombie jerked his head to the side and Hiei went flying to slam into the side of the Well of Fears. As soon as he slid off and touched the ground a slew of rotten arms broke through the dirt and pinned him. Hiei gritted his teeth and pulled only to be dragged down again.

            Was the power of Fear even greater than the seasoned Spirit Detectives?

 

XXX

 

            “What did you get?”

            “You don’t want to know,” Revenant answered.

            “If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t ask,” snapped Moka.

            “Five, all right? Five.”

            Moka hissed in frustration and punched the wall of the cube holding them prisoner, not even making a noise for all her strength. “This is pointless! We could be here for years doing this, trying to get out.”

            Yukari looked up at Moka, fear twisting her stomach. For a long time she’d hoped to be as strong as the vampiric beauty, but now she couldn’t help but worry that Moka might just get mad enough to take out her anger on the two of them. Revenant might stand a chance, but her?

She sucked in a breath, tried to remember how she’d overcome her fear when Nigeki had been about to die, but the look of helpless rage in Moka’s eyes…

            “You could,” said a voice outside the cube. “Ooooooooor you could do something incredibly brave and stupid to get out!” It was the Gatekeeper, grinning like a lunatic and giggling to himself as usual.

            “Like what?” Revenant asked cautiously.

            The Gatekeeper didn’t answer right away, though. Instead the far wall of the cube flickered to show an image of the battle the others were having with Baron Samedi. He clapped his hands and icy-looking daggers rained out of the cloud and buried themselves in Bloodstone, Yusuke and Hiei. Yukari gulped.

            “Looks like those other maggots you came in with could use a bit of help, eh? If one of you was willing to give up your spirit energy, it could probably break you out of that box,” the Gatekeeper grinned again.

            “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Moka demanded.

            Revenant placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. “What I think it means is we could escape, if one of us was willing to give up their life. I should be—”

            “NO!” Yukari cried, surprising both of them. “You’re Simon Belmont, right? Then that means your whip is special, and it can get through the field around that ugly zombie.”

            “…probably, at least for a little while,” Revenant replied.

            Yukari gripped her wand as she readied to say what she was about to say. “Then I volunteer. Take my life to break this open.”

            “You’re so brave, little maggot,” the Gatekeeper grinned.

            “No!” Revenant shouted and tried to thrust himself in between Yukari and the Gatekeeper but it was already too late. Ribbons of energy flowed out of her eyes, piercing the side of the cube. The sound of shattering lass was deafening as cracks raced to every corner and the cube fell to pieces, but only tiny flakes fell on the former prisoners.

            Revenant shook his fist up at the Gatekeeper’s grinning face. “So help me, you’ll pay for this!” he snarled, all his earlier thoughts of being careful not to anger the hooded trickster gone. Yukari crumbled to the ground, unmoving and her skin growing pale. “But for now, there are other lives at stake and a world to save from another creature of evil…”

            The Gatekeeper’s only reply was his usual snigger.

 

XXX

 

            Yusuke stared down into the half-buried face of one of the zombies holding him to the ground. He managed to twist his head far enough to see Hiei pinned by a mass of hands sticking out of the ground too. But the third eye in his forehead was glowing and the hands were loosening their grip on him and slowly sliding back into the ground, the strong but lowly undead mesmerized by the psychic power of his eye.

            “Hey, Hiei,” Yusuke tried to whisper to him. His eyes darted to Baron Samedi who’d floated over into the column of cloudy power right above the Well of Fears, the zombie’s eyes shut as he drank in all its power, and Yusuke could feel it blazing even from where he was pinned. Soon Samedi would indeed be powerful enough to break through to any world he wanted.

            He had to be stopped.

            “What is it, Yusuke?” Hiei asked, sounding almost bored. “You finally ready to help me with a sneak attack on that idiot over there?”

            “Yeah. Think you can cut me loose? I’m probably gonna need to conserve my spirit energy.”

            “Pathetic,” Hiei answered, but in the blink of an eye he launched himself in Yusuke’s direction and sliced through the zombie hands holding him down with a blindingly fast strike of his katana. Yusuke jumped to his feet and then the two of them scattered before Baron Samedi had the chance to see what they were doing and launch an attack on them both.

            But he didn’t launch an attack on them. Instead he waved his hands and a swarm of cockroaches the size of dogs started to warm from a patch of light in front of them and chased after Yusuke and Hiei as the pair of fighters ran the perimeter of the clearing, Yusuke firing off a ghostly bullet at Samedi whenever he could see the zombie’s back. They just glanced off, ineffective against his new power.

            But while he was distracted Toriel conjured fire in her palms and burned away the zombies holding her down. She swiped a burning hand over the ones pinning Bloodstone too and after they retreated into the ground she lightly rolled him onto his back. His armor was charred and flaking off in places after the last attack Baron Samedi had hit him with, but the veins in it were still pumping faintly. “Are you all right, my child?” she asked quietly.

            “I can’t really move. It hurts,” he replied.

            Instinctively she reached out and took his hand, lacing her fingers through his supportively. “I’m sure it does. You’re very brave to take all of this on,” she said, a strange but warm smile forming on her goat-like face.

            “AAGGH! They’re getting in my PANTS!” someone yelled in the distance.

            “What’s going on?” Bloodstone asked.

            Toriel replied by gently stroking the cheek of his mask, which should’ve felt strange, he thought, but seemed oddly comforting instead. “Don’t worry about them, this is something they do all the time. Do you think you can stand?”

            He dragged his hand back until he could lean on it and start to push himself into a sitting position. “I can still fight. We’ve gotta do something about that guy.” Toriel took his arm over her shoulder and helped him get to his feet.

            “I suppose once, I might’ve disagreed with you, child,” she sighed. “But now…now I have to agree, at least a little, that you’ve got the right to fight for your own future.”

            “You keep calling me ‘child’,” Bloodstone pointed out

            She shrugged lightly and smiled gently. “I guess so. For such a long time the only people I ever saw were children. And Froggit, too...nosey little jerk. I guess it’s a routine I’ve settled into. Shall we go help…child?”

            “Yes, we should, mom.”

            “…what did you call me?”

            “ **Caprine Heart! Synch!** ”

            A roar of power filled the area as the Joining Nexus was activated again, and everyone, even Samedi’s phantom cockroaches, turned to face the fading light of Bloodstone’s transformation.

            Spiraling white horns emerged from the top of his mask. He seemed to be standing on a his tiptoes but another glance showed his boots had changed to cloven hooves and his legs now bent backwards like a goat’s. The crystal ball in the space over his heard was a soft purple housing the image of an orb with wings and three triangles underneath, two pointing up and the one below pointing down.

            “…a goat?” Yusuke asked in confusion.

            “Wonder if he’ll taste like one!” Baron Samedi sneered and clutched his fist. The ground around them started to shake in a miniature earthquake, flinging the giant ghostly cockroaches everywhere and cracking the ground into giant chunks. Yusuke fell backward as the ground he stood on tilted and a pair of cockroaches came tumbling at him. He fired at the first one, knocking it into a crack, but the other landed right on top of him. He yelped and swatted the huge bug away with his fist.

            Hiei was the first combatant to attack Samedi, jumping off the shaking ground and coming at him from the side and sword raised high. It sliced against his undead target but Samedi just smiled as it had no effect on him at all. He held out one hand that suddenly morphed into a mass of tentacles that coiled around Hiei’s throat and then wrapped around his arms and yanked them apart, seemingly trying to pull him limb from limb.

            Bloodstone pulled the Hunter’s Myriad off his belt and the device changed its form again with his new fusion, splitting in two as it had before but this time a fireball formed at the end of each rod like a torch. Jumping again and again from the broken hunks of ground he waited for just the right moment then touched them together and a flaming ray shot from where they met.

            The ray struck Baron Samedi but he just grinned and shook his head. “You still don’t get it, do you??” he laughed.

            But as he laughed Bloodstone aimed at the Well of Fears. Samedi was about to say that was indestructible too, but Bloodstone aimed a precise shot not at the well itself, but one of the indentations where a Keystone was lodged…

The ray blew the talisman out of its setting and into the darkness around them. The Well started grinding noisily as part of the cover slid back into place. “No…NO! Not yet!” Baron Samedi shrieked and threw Hiei at Bloodstone but the armored vampire bounded off the broken hunk of ground, somersaulted in the air and land a kick between Samedi’s shoulders. He spun through the air and rebounded off the side of the Well, just as another shot from Bloodstone’s weapons knocked another Keystone out of its niche. As he did the earthquake going on around them stopped.

Samedi jumped back, already glowing angrily with power as he prepared to strike back. Then suddenly a voice boomed through the area. “ **Banishing Strikes**.” Kamen Rider Revenant charged into view, cracking his whip and hitting Samedi in the chest. The glow around him flickered and his angry expression faded.

Revenant’s whip cracked again and Samedi tried to create a wall of light, filled with demonic faces to block it, but the weapon cracked through and hit him again, weakening the power surrounding him even more. Another crack of the whip and the power flowing through Samedi faded completely and he fell down with a crash. He scrambled for the Well of Fears.

And suddenly a beautiful but angry girl, long white hair whipping behind her ran past him and knocked a Keystone out of the Well with a kick that made the air seem to shatter break loudly. With a giant rumble the cover of the well ground shut again and after another second, the cloud overhead dispersed leaving just the blackened sky.

            Moka was the first to charge at him, throwing a flying kick at his head that Samedi ducked under her foot with surprising agility and ran past her. “You’re done for now, zombie,” Revenant called, but Samedi just shrugged.

            “You’ve still got to catch me first!” he said and bolted down the road leading out of the clearing where the well was. Suddenly Hiei came plummeting out of the air in front of him, but to all their surprise cast his katana aside. He clutched his hands together and a giant serpentine dragon whipped through the air and slammed into Baron Samedi, carrying up him high into the air before breaking up like smoke.

            “ **Mother’s Wrath!** ” exclaimed the Bloodstone itself as its namesake crossed the torches in his hands again and the fireball they formed enlarged until it was the size of his torso, then released its power in a blast that shaped itself into a group of three goat-like creatures formed of fire, snapping their jaws and knocking their horns against each other as they went galloping into the air and seized Baron Samedi. They bit and pummeled him relentlessly with their flaming hooves and horns as they fell. When they hit the ground they exploded in puffs of smoke, and Baron Samedi lay motionless on the cracked earth.

 

XXX

 

            Everyone stood back as Bloodstone released his armor, spraying the area with thick black and red slime. His body glowed for a second and then Nigeki was standing beside Toriel, a strange half-smile on his face and glint in his eyes as he looked up at her. She blushed through her fur at the look and turned away from him.

            Yusuke and Hiei came up on Samedi from opposite sides, bent forward, tensed a little as they looked to see if he was still looking to fight, but his body was starting to fade already from the beating he’d taken. He turned his head to look over at Nigeki, and croaked, “Hey kid, I saw it. Your fear, your big one. You know whatever’s inside you, if you slip once it could take you over for good, and you’d never get back out again.”

            “I saw yours too,” Nigeki replied. “You’re afraid of being buried alive…or whatever the word is for how you are.”

            Baron Samedi smiled a pained smile. “Sounds like we’ve got a lot in common, huh?” But Nigeki never got the chance to answer. In that second Baron Samedi completely disintegrated into black smoke and floated into the sky to resume his imprisonment along with the other souls of the damned that struggled hopelessly in the sky above them.

            “Well done, everyone,” Botan said with a chipper smile on her face as she walked up to them, paddle slung over her shoulder. “I’m proud to say, mission accomplished!” she said, then made a peace sign with her free hand.

            “What about that other Harbinger? The witch?” asked Toriel.

            “Oh, I found her tied to a tried…I’m assuming I have you two to thank for that?” Felicia nodded, and Botan went on. “We made sure she ended up back where she belongs,” Botan said and pointed up at the sky. “You can see her right…there!” Nigeki and Toriel looked, but couldn’t spot anything different any of the thrashing souls where she pointed.

            Behind them Yusuke looked over at Hiei with some amazement. “I can’t believe you used the Dragon of Darkness on that guy…you really have it under control now?”

            “Does it matter?” the other asked. “Are we done here?”

            “No, we aren’t,” Botan answered him, turning slightly stern. “We haven’t found out how those so-called Harbingers were able to escape the chains and try their scheme in the first place. Although I suspect I know the answer to that…COME ON OUT, GATEKEEPER! DON’T THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME!”

            In response to her yell the hooded face they’d all become accustomed to seeing appeared, his shit-eating grin in place as always.

            “It **was** you who let the Harbingers escape, wasn’t it?” Botan demanded.

            “It was some guy in a mask…came in and told me to unchain them. Nothing ever happens here, thought it might give me something to do.”

            Botan scowled. “What kind of mask?”

            “Who knows?!” the Gatekeeper giggled. “Everyone wears a mask, I see them all! I see the ones they don’t see themselves…”

            Botan sighed and clutched her forehead. “You’re going to be in a **world** of trouble when I report this.”

            But he just giggled at her again. “Find someone else who’ll take this job, maybe **then** I’ll be scared!”

            Revenant cleared his throat. “If I may, I think we should disperse. Our job here seems done, and you’ve got another life to worry about yet…”

            Moka knitted her brow. “She’s still alive?”

            “Who’s still alive?” Nigeki asked.

            “Yes, but not for long in the shape she’s in,” Revenant said, and then ran off down the path. “Nor will someone else be if I don’t hurry!”

            Yusuke turned to the group from Youkai Academy and shot them a smile. “Hey, it was great working with you guys! Maybe we’ll meet up again sometime.”

            Nigeki just waved and followed Moka away from the area, not sure how to answer a question like that.

           

XXX

 

            Her body was cold and her eyes squeezed tight but Yukari just barely managed to reach up with a trembling hand and put her arm around Nigeki’s neck. He carried her to the school medical station, which to his relief still had its lights on despite night having settle over Youkai Academy while they were gone. He doubted it was a coincidence.

            Yukari didn’t make a sound as the nurse on duty put her in a bed, and to Nigeki’s alarm her skin had started to turn grey as he’d brought her in from the portal. He’d heard from Moka about what Yukari did to let them escape, and now Yukari was clinging to life, but just barely.

            “I wonder what it’ll take for her to recover,” Nigeki mumbled as they walked back out into the hall.

            “That sounds so wrong,” Moka said.

            He looked back at her but squinted with weariness. “…what does? Do I even want to know?”

            “A vampire’s nature is to hunt. We don’t have the power to heal.”

            “But I’m not much of a vampire, am I?” Nigeki retorted. “I guess that’s it, though…all we can do is wait and see what happens with her. See you later.”

            Moka cleared her throat and he turned back around to face, glaring a little after how she’d been treating him the rest of the night. “What??”

            “Don’t you think you should give me that back?”

            Nigeki looked at her, annoyed, but then followed his gaze down to her hand and realized he still had her Rosario clutched tightly in his fist. He’d had it in an iron grip since they’d been attacked by the Soul Rangers, not daring to let it get lost without even realizing it was what he’d been doing.

            She took it and reattached it to its loop on her choker then shimmered as she reverted to her gentler pink-haired alter ego. After a second of uncomfortable silence she asked, “Will you be all right tonight?”

            He nodded slowly and sighed. “Yeah, I think I will. See you tomorrow.”

            “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then she turned and walked off, casting a last uncertain look over her shoulder at Nigeki as she went.

 

XXX

 

            When he got to his room Nigeki just locked the door behind, hung his jacket over the back of his desk chair, took his dose of hypnocil and lay down in bed without bothering to take off the rest of his school uniform.

            He was out of energy after everything that happened, even though they’d won. Yukari was barely alive, and the real Moka was scorning him even more than she ever had now.

             But the Spirit Detectives had him a little worried. They were people who hunted down monsters, and nominally at least they were on the same side he was, but how did they decide when a monster had crossed the line? The Kamen Riders were supposed to be “allies of justice” or whatever, and he’d never heard about them caring much about what kind of monsters they exploded with their laser kicks.

            It was too much to deal with after a day that long. The vampire shut his eyes.

The next thing he knew an electronic buzz went off in his ears and his eyes snapped open, then snapped shut again from the blinding early morning light. Covering his eyelids with one hand and letting out a gasp of painful surprise, he fumbled around on the floor with his other hand reaching for his phone. A second later he dared to open his eyes again he looked at the screen and saw he’d gotten a text.

The picture of a girl with magenta streaks in her hair and a heart-shaped birthmark under her eye swam through his dazed mind looking for a name to attach itself to. Finally he remembered who it was: his American cousin, Laura. Straining his eyes until they adjusted to the light he could just make out her text surrounded by a hot pink bubble.

“HI WE HAVENT TALKED IN 4EVS! HOW RU DOING? R UR FRIENDS MAKING SCHOOL COOL?”

Nigeki couldn’t help chuckling a little at how carefree her message sounded. The timing seemed almost suspicious with the dream he’d just had, but he responded. “MY FRIENDS ARE GREAT, BUT TURNS OUT I HAVE A REALLY COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE.”

He was about to set down his phone when immediately he saw the symbol that Laura was already working on a reply. A second later he read, “OOOH YOU LIKE HER!!! ^_~ <3 <3 IS SHE PRETTY?? WHATS HER NAME???”

For a second Nigeki thought of trying to deny it, but his childhood experiences told him there was no point. When a girl got a thought like that into her head there was no changing it. His sisters had never let him forget about his “love” for Lilly…

“SHE’S PRETTY, BUT SHE WANTS ME TO COMPETE WITH HER. TO GET BETTER THAN HER AT…,” he stopped, not sure what to say. Saying Moka wanted to compete with him at being the crap out of unfriendly monsters seemed like one way to get Laura to stop thinking about his “crush,” but he was sure the rest of his family would hear about it somehow. “…JOGGING. SHE’S THE MOST SERIOUS RUNNER I EVER MET.”

“BET YOUR GONNA HAVE TO MOVE FAST TO GET ANY KISSES FROM THAT GIRL!!”

“YEAH…BUT ENOUGH ABOUT MY DATING SITUATION. WHAT ABOUT YOU? HOW ARE YOU AND THE BOY FROM THE BASKETBALL TEAM DOING? WHAT’S HIS NAME AGAIN?”

“OMG U MEAN CLAUDE! FRIDAY OUR TEAM BEAT GRAVEDALE AND HE GOT ALMOST ALL THE POINTS LET ME SEND YOU MY PICTURES!!”

Nigeki set down his phone, feeling better for the moment at least that he wouldn’t have to explain to Laura that Moka wanted a combat rival and how far he was from being what she was after. Then again, she couldn’t have one if he just didn’t unseal her again, right…?

He barely heard the sound of an image being delivered from his phone as someone knocked sharply on the door.

            Nigeki gave out a groan he didn’t care if the person in the hall heard, especially since it was probably Moka wanting to discuss whether he’d spar with her true self or not. “Can this **wait**?”

            “No, child, I’m sorry but it can’t,” replied a soft voice that wasn’t either version of Moka.

            When he placed the name, he ran for the door so fast he cracked the window with flakes of the flooring ripped up by his toes, and opened the door so sharply it almost came off the hinges. “HI MRS. DREEMUR!”  
            Toriel jumped back in surprise at the force of his greeting, but collected herself quickly enough. “Yes, hello. Good afternoon, child. I’m here because I’m told that your academic performance lately has been…well, leaving something to be desired.”

            “You know the Headmaster’s only letting me stay because I have to go on his little missions whenever he asks, right?”

            “Oh, I know, and I’ve also been asked to take you to see him, in regards to that.”

            Nigeki nodded, supposing he hadn’t really been expecting the chance to rest. “Yeah, let’s go.”

XXX 

            Nigeki almost jumped when he heard the locks of the heavy double doors coming open. He’d been paying a little too much attention to Toriel as they walked, her shoulders seeming so…fluid, so dynamic as she swayed her arms in rhythm while she led the way to…

            ….where the hell had they been going? Oh, of course, the Headmaster’s office. The place was dimly lit by blue light and the space in front of his desk was way more than seemed necessary for a guy who ran high school. Nigeki’s father’s office back home wasn’t nearly that big. Only the “war room” where he had reports coming in from all the investigators was that size.

            “Hitoribo-san…I’m pleased to hear of your success,” the Headmaster said, the words seeming to echo slightly as they escaped the darkness of his hood. _Did he wear that everywhere_ , Nigeki found himself wondering. The first time he’d met the Headmaster it had seemed kind of intimidating, but now that he was working for the guy, sort of, the hood was just starting to look weird.

            “Was that the kind of thing you had in mind when you asked me to do you favors to stay in school?”

            “No. This was an unforeseen emergency, but you and your assistants did quite well responding to such a situation on short notice.”

            Nigeki knitted his brow. “Assistants??” Was Toriel blushing as he said the word? “Look, thanks, but is that all you called me down here for?”

            “Indeed not. I wanted to tell you that while I was away I tried to look into the nature of a Sacred Gear called the Joining Nexus with some of my colleagues. None had heard of such a one, but there was one who had an interesting theory…she thought that if it could join its user with one monster, why not more than one?” the Headmaster explained.

            “I…that’d pretty intense, I guess,” Nigeki answered lightly. The idea of joining with one person was still kind of heavy, a couple at a time was more than he was ready for.

            The Headmaster’s hood bobbed in a nod. “We discussed something else while I was away, also. Have you heard anything about a ‘Man Who Speaks in Hands’, Hitoribo-san?”

            Toriel raised a hand to her mouth at the question, but the Headmaster didn’t seem to notice. “No…I haven’t. Should I have?” Nigeki asked.

            “Not necessarily, but I need you to be my eyes and ears, Hitoribo-san. If you hear anything, or hear that someone else has heard something, you need to find out everything and then relay it to my office immediately. We’ve reason to believe this ‘Man Who Speaks in Hands’ has a strong interest in you, and I’m worried what his interest could be.”

            Nigeki nodded, but turned and walked away without another word. He wondered what that was too, and just what Joining Nexus had to do with it.

 

XXX

 

            “Not a **word** out of you, Belmont!”

            “I haven’t said a thing since we left Hell,” replied Simon, who hadn’t. He couldn’t quite hide a smirk at the look of angry humiliation on BB Hood’s face, no matter how far she pulled her namesake over her head. She looked so mad he was surprised puffs of smoke weren’t gushing out her ears.

            “Well, I’d like to hear you say something,” said a man in a crisp black suit who walked out of the shadows at the end of the hall. It was Robert Blacher, the AGES branch chief the pair reported to. “Like what happened to your escort.”

            “They didn’t make it back,” Hood replied quickly before Simon had the chance to answer for them. “We were sent to Hell, weren’t we?”

            Blacher looked over at Simon. “Is that true?”

            “Are you saying you don’t believe my account of it?” Hood huffed.

            “I’m saying I need to hear ALL the details. The board will want to know everything about how such a high-tier operation went. Well, Belmont?”

            Simon nodded lightly. “Yes, they were lost in battle with the Harbingers, but none of them escaped. I saw them all returned to their chains.”

            “Good. Hood, you’re dismissed,” Blacher said, and she disappeared further into the branch still huffing angrily. “As for you, Belmont, try not to lose anymore troopers if you can manage it. And try not to risk yourself unnecessarily. I know you’re the best, but my superiors devoted an awful lot of capital to enlisting your help. They have a big goal they need your help to achieve, and we’re trying to stick to ‘warm-up’ missions until then.”

            For a second Simon stared at him dumbstruck. “You call keeping damned souls from escaping a ‘warm-up’?”

            “They do, anyway. But don’t get yourself killed is what I’m saying. Even your family couldn’t get rid of every monster, but with your help we’ll have a way soon that finally will,” Blacher told him, then walked.

            “Yeah…every monster,” Simon murmured, thinking of the image of that lifeless young witch who’d sacrificed herself to free not just that vampire girl, but Simon as well…

 

XXX

 

            **REAL sorry if this one was kind of a slog. If it wasn’t that clear I based these last couple chapters on the old Nightmare/Atmosfear board game series, where the main feature was you’d watch a video of a monster (the Gatekeeper was the most common one) who’d make fun of the players and give arbitrary orders to screw up the game every once in a while. The Harbingers were the characters the players could choose between. That moment when Nigeki thinks Baron Samedi’s the Gatekeeper is because the same guy played both characters in the videos.**

**This was inspired by the video series The Spoony One did on them once upon a time, back when he was still awesome (sad face). That was him collapsing in despair at seeing Final Fantasy VIII in his hands this chapter (I personally have nothing wrong with that game). Anyway, I thought it might be a fun influence on a setting full of monsters…but then my copy of the game actually game and I tried to play it. Again, my apologies if these last couple chapters weren’t that great. There was a lot less there material to adapt into a non-interactive story than I thought, more characters running around than there should’ve been, and it ended up running longer than I should’ve let it. I apologize and will make more of an effort to keep it under control.**

**And guess I’ll just come out and say it: cousin Laura is Draculaura from Monster High. I was looking for other monster high school-themed shows to help broaden the setting, and based her inclusion on stumbling across an episode where she visits Japan as an exchange student (I was googling “monster high school anime,” and one of the things that came up was a short called “Sayonara Draculaura”). “Gravedale” is a reference to another monster high school show. I’d been a little against including something set across the ocean, but then I thought that made it an even better choice because it showed just how widespread the monster world could really be. That should become an element of the story later on.**

**Happy Halloween!**


	11. Chapter 22 - Crashers

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone, Chapter 22 – Crashers**

 

            **Nigeki Hitoribo, young vampire who’s finding himself pushed further and further into a conflict that will shake his supernatural world, but which few seem to know anything about. Recently returned from a mission in a pocket of Hell where a group of evil monsters calling themselves the Harbingers were on the verge of escaping, and it was learned they assisted in escaping from their torment by a mysterious but extremely powerful figure in a white mask. Yukari Sendo, a child prodigy and a witch with a crush on both Nigeki and his classmate Moka Akashiya, tagged along on the mission to help out, only to find the danger much worse than she’d imagined. She managed to save Moka and a human monster hunter from a trap, but was badly hurt in the process…**

 

XXX

 

            Trails of smoke stretched out of the houses that still stood, but even as they watched one of the buildings groaned and collapsed. The dark silhouettes of a handful of inhuman figures, the fight knocked out of them, were fleeing for the surrounding forest. A group of gleaming robotic soldiers stomped after them.

            And in the middle of the burning wreckage of a hidden village was BB Hood, grinning like a maniac, totally at odds with the frilly red and white dress she had on and the wicker basket of goodies she carried in one hand. It felt so _good_ to fight something she knew she could kill again. Here, _she_ was the hunter again. _She_ had the power.

            She reached into her basket and lobbed a grenade into the remains of the village just because she could. Just because she needed to remind this world of monsters to fear her kind again. When it exploded and peppered her with debris, she just smiled.

            One robotic trooper walked over to the mercenary and a holographic image of a bearded man in a $50,000 suit appeared in the air in front of her. Robert Blacher, her current benefactor and a branch head for the group calling itself AGES. She had no idea if that was supposed to mean anything, but if they felt like paying her to hunt monsters, something silly like the letters in their name didn’t matter for anything.

            “Miss Hood, I have a new assignment for you,” he said simply.

            “Give me a while to make sure there’s no survivors here,” Hood replied.

            “No, you’ll need to leave immediately. The troopers can clean up there and we need someone with a brain for this. We need living captives as a bargaining tool with a powerful monster,” Blacher countered.

            Hood cocked an uzi from inside her basket. “You point me at that ‘powerful monster,’ and—”

            “…and we can do better business by extorting her instead of destroying her,” Blacher cut her off. “Her power will be easier for us to exploit if she just hands it over…these last few villages should serve as a firm enough warning about the damage we can do if we’re pushed.”

            Hood grumbled to herself. She didn’t _capture_ monsters. These AGES people knew that, she’d made it crystal clear when they’d offered her work. But…maybe seeing the fear in their eyes knowing they weren’t as superior as they thought would make up for it, for a little while anyway.

            “All right. Where are you sending me now?”

 

XXX

 

            Again the dim lights flickered, and she looked around uncertainly. Could she stand to be plunged into darkness so deep underground, even if it was with her Angel of Music? She glanced up at him again, wondering just what was hidden by his smooth white mask…

            “Down, once more to the dungeon of my black despair!” he wailed as he steered the small boat across the black waters of the underground lake. “Down we plunge to the prison of my mind! Down that path into darkness deep as _HELL_!” He whipped around to face her, and yelled in rage and betrayal, “Why, you ask, was I bound and chained in this cold and dismal place?? Not for any mortal sin, but the wickedness of my abhorrent face!”

            She reached out for him, struggling to get close enough to make contact because of her useless legs. Her fingers brushed his mask and held on as he tried to pull away. “Your face is…as beautiful as your soul—”

            “Meroune, Christine’s in fear for her life at this point,” Felicia interrupted, the drama club advisor sighing faintly in exasperation.

            “Oh…of course,” she said, smiling a little sheepishly. “It’s…just such a wonderful tragic love story.”

            “It’s not a love story,” Felicia reminded her once again. “The Phantom—”

            “Erik,” Meroune cut her off.

            “What?”

            “His name isn’t ‘the Phantom.’ It’s Erik,” Meroune replied with a smile.

            Felicia facepalmed, then sucked in a breath and faced her students. “I think that’s the problem here, Meroune. You’re seeing this as something positive, when _the Phantom_ ,” she said forcefully, cutting off Meroune’s attempt to correct her, “tries to _kidnap_ her. Hitoribo, try to help her understand, would you? Everyone else, see you back here in ten.”

            The rest of the Drama Club got up and immediately started chatting with one another as they scattered to the edges of the room. The spotlight crew shut down the lights trained on Nigeki and Meroune and climbed down from the rigging to join their friends too. Nigeki Hitoribo peeled off his Phantom’s mask and stepped out from behind the fake boat. As he went over to Meroune she immediately smiled and took him by the hand, lacing their fingers together.

            “You know Mero-chan, Miss Bast kind of has a point. The Phantom’s really not a nice guy…he _did_ kidnap Christine,” the young vampire gently tried to explain to his classmate and costar.

            “It’s not Eric’s fault he was born like that, and no-one would accept him. He’s just lonely, and wants to reach out to someone,” she countered with her usual gentle, regal smile.

            He knitted his brow at her. “That doesn’t excuse kidnapping someone.”

            She smiled and hugged his fingers with hers. “He couldn’t exactly ask someone to  accept him for what he was, when he’d had to hide for years, after all. If he could, he wouldn’t be leaving in the sewers talking to the woman he loved through a mirror…You and he have a few things in common, actually, Hitoribo-san. You grew up isolated too, didn’t you?”

            “I don’t remember being off the estate ten times in my life before I came here,” Nigeki admitted.

            “Neither did I!” Meroune gushed. “You see how it is??? How tragic it is for Erik, and for you? You just needed the chance to be loved!”

            Nigeki sighed a little and a giant sweatdrop formed on his head. Were there people who really worked this heard to justify the actions of fictional people as deranged as the Phantom of the Opera? He was someone who deserved some amount of pity, yes, but that didn’t excuse kidnapping and attempts at murder, did it?

And was Nigeki maybe close to his type after all? Withdrawn because of something about him, but really just needing someone to accept him and love him to overcome his personal demons? If Nigeki followed his own logic, shouldn’t HE be punished for coming to Youkai Academy and not revealing his dangerous secret?

            “I still don’t think it’s quite the same,” Nigeki muttered.

            “No it isn’t!” Meroune sang. “It’s wonderful in its own way, for you to end up here and us ending up in the same club…it means something incredible, don’t you think?”

            Nigeki managed the best smile he could. The little mermaid in front of him was probably the nicest person he’d ever met since coming to Youkai Academy, even more than Moka…but he was learning that to get through that niceness and actually change her mind about anything was a job even Kamen Rider Bloodstone probably couldn’t handle. “I…I guess so,” Nigeki replied, and Meroune hugged his fingers again as her reply.

            “Hitoribo-san,” Felicia interrupted. “Your tutor’s here, so maybe we should forget about rehearsal for the afternoon.” Nigeki looked off the stage and froze as he spotted Toriel. She was back in her human disguise, a mature woman of soft but warm features, framed by waves of curly white hair, and with sensual curves peeking through her purple dress. She smiled softly and gave him waved up at him, his keen hunter’s eyes zeroed in on her.

            “…your tutor?” Meroune asked, her face suddenly blank.

            “Yes, that’s Mrs. Dreemurr. She’s helping me keep up with my classes a couple days a week,” Nigeki answered.

            “…she’s beautiful,” Meroune said.

            The word shook Nigeki out of his thoughts on his teacher. “Beautiful??...Well, I guess so. But I mean, she’s a teacher, you know?”

            “Oh? Don’t lots of boys fall in love with their teachers?” Meroune asked.

            Nigeki stepped back. “Look, Meroune, I’m glad how many friends I made here. But I’m not worrying about dating or falling in love or anything like that yet.”

            “Love isn’t something you wait for, though, right?” Meroune countered. “It always happens when you least expect it.” It sounded to him like she’d been reading too many fairy tales, but the vampire was saved when Felicia cleared her throat and tapped her wrist.

            “I’ll see you next time, Meroune,” Nigeki said and jumped down from the stage.

            “Maybe our leading lady will have learned something about who to be afraid of by then,” Felicia said, a little worriedly. Nigeki didn’t blame her: they’d both recently been to some tiny pocket of Hell itself, and had learned that even more danger was probably coming soon. Having students around who thought dangerous people like the Phantom of the Opera were exciting wasn’t an idea Felicia liked.

            Nigeki nodded and walked off, but it was only a few steps before he couldn’t contain himself anymore and ran over to where Toriel was waiting for him. She took a step back, startled at how fast he came up to her for a second, then smiled at her student. “Nice to see you again,” she pleasantly.

            “You have no idea,” Nigeki mumbled, then looked up and smiled at her. “Ready for my catch-up session. But can we make a stop at the nurse’s office first?”

            “It’s good to see a student being so eager about their education,” Toriel smiled and led the way out of the room. As they went Nigeki could feel jealous eyes all over his back, but didn’t slow down.

 

XXX

 

            One more time the whip cracked through the air, seeming to spray sparks of white light, cutting through the slavering werewolf. The last strike was too much for it and the monster flickered out of sight.

            The black forest around him faded back to the dull white walls they’d been before. The battle had all been an illusion, but the sweat coating Simon Belmont’s skin from his training battle was real enough. He coiled up his family’s ancestral whip and hung it from his belt, then took a sip of water from his bottle. The leaders of AGES were watching his every move, and after they sent BB Hood on a mission without him, he was sure they were suspicious of him.

After his last mission for them, Simon had made the mistake of letting himself sound too sympathetic for a young witch who’d been badly hurt helping him and her friend escape a trap. No-one in this group of monster-haters had tried anything against him, but he didn’t dare give them more of a reason to think they should.

            Instead he needed to seem like the legendary implacable monster hunter they’d spent a fortune reviving, but disoriented and still adapting to the modern environment. Unfamiliar enough with the world that he saw a little girl sacrificing herself, instead of a _witch_. That ought to be enough to convince them until he could be sure what their motivations were.

            Simon walked up to the wall of the training room, and its almost unnoticeable door slid back into the walls for him. The halls were empty of AGES personnel as he walked back to the small bunkroom he’d accepted instead of the master suite they’d offered him. In a bigger space it was easier to hide, easier to spy on someone, a lesson from his old days that seemed as applicable now as ever.

He started the shower in his room and climbed onto his stiff bunk to wait for it to get hot before going in. As he waited Simon looked up at the ceiling, pretending to study a rivet thoughtfully as he saw the look in his mind again of that young witch, he didn’t even know her name, lying on the ground covered in dirt and barely alive after saving him from Baron Samedi’s trap.

Had she been saving her friend, or both of them?

 

XXX

 

“Is there _any_ sign of what’s wrong with her?”

“It’s hard to say,” the nurse replied as she replaced Yukari’s health chart at the foot of her bed. “She’s definitely alive, but she still hasn’t woken up.”

“So she’s in a coma, then?” Nigeki asked.

The nurse shrugged helplessly at the question. “ _Maybe_. Her vital signs are very weak, but we’ve been able to spot some very faint mental activity. It’s _something_ like a coma, but we’re not sure _what_. Her parents have been notified, and in a few days they’ll be here to take her to a more complete facility than we can offer here.”

Nigeki’s stomach clenched like a fist at that news, and he reached down and gently brushed the witch’s cheek with his fingers. In some back part of his mind he guessed he’d hoped after that she’d finally groan and stir, then open her eyes and look up at him like in the final scene of a cheesy movie.

But nothing happened.

He sighed. It had only been a little while ago Yukari had been talking about marrying him and Moka, and now…would he even be allowed to see her, wherever her parents were taking her? Would they let him anywhere near their daughter after they heard what happened?

Then Toriel put a warm hand on Nigeki’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring, motherly smile. “Child, that was a terrible situation for anyone to be in. From what we’ve heard of what happened, I’d say your friend acted very bravely.”

“Yeah, but this wasn’t supposed to happen,” Nigeki feebly protested. “I was supposed to come here and make friends, and everything was supposed to be better than being stuck at home.”

Toriel’s expression didn’t change, her hand didn’t move from its spot on his shoulder. “She’s alive. And isn’t there an expression…‘while there’s life, there’s hope’?”

He chuckled a little at that and brushed his fingers over Yukari’s forehead. He could detect the faint rhythm of her pulse, and for just a second there was a tiny spike only the sharpest of hunter’s instincts would’ve detected.

“Yeah. We should probably go do those catch-up lessons now, huh?”

Toriel nodded. Nigeki gently kissed the tips of two fingers and pressed them against Yukari’s forehead for a second. They left the medical office then, and Nigeki was keenly aware Toriel’s hand was still on his shoulder.

 

XXX

 

He was keenly aware of its absence as she sat on the other side of a table from him in the school’s small library. She held up a notebook with a series of mathematical equations, indicating part of it with her pencil. It had been hours, and with his catch-up lessons on top of his club meeting for the day, all the numbers were starting to run together in the formula she was trying to show him.

“Mrs. Dreemur?” he asked and covered his face with his hands to try to give himself some relief. “Can we take a break? I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.”

“I’m sorry, Hitoribo-san. We have too much to get through to slow down,” she apologized. He groaned slightly, but before Toriel could start talking again he reached out and took her hand away from the formula she was trying to explain to him, and held it in his own hand. She looked at him curiously.

“I’m not a machine, you know,” Nigeki protested lately. “I can only take so much at a time. Can’t we talk about something else, just for a little bit? Tell me something from when you were a queen. That’s way more interesting than old math problems.”

Toriel sighed some and set the notebook down. “I don’t know that I agree…it was wonderful at first, but after what happened to our son, everything fell apart.”

“Did it have anything to do with that guy with the beard who was following you that time?” Nigeki asked.

Toriel grimaced at the reminder. “Yes, he was the king,” she said, sounding disgusted and as if she preferred “He declared war on humanity after…after what happened. But he didn’t have the stomach for what he had to do. He could’ve just slipped by the barrier, collected the souls from the recently departed we needed to break down the barrier keeping us confined and then release them again. He just hid in his castle, and hoped the need to go to war would never come,” she said, the memories coming back fast and strong now. “Our people spent years trapped underground thanks to him. If it hadn’t been for a _child_ …I’m sorry, I’m getting caught up in the past.”

“And by the time you got here, you found out how things were with monsters and humans?” Nigeki gently prodded her to continue.

She sighed. “Yes, you might say there was another kind of barrier.”

Nigeki smiled gently at her. “I’ll do whatever I can to help with that, Mrs. Dreemur. Please believe that,” he said in the most firm and impressive voice he could.

He was hoping for a smile of acceptance from his teacher. Maybe even something like an offer to meet privately sometime and talk that over. But the smile she gave him was small, and a little tired, and she gently pulled her hand back to her side of the table.

“You’re going to have to prove that, child. Whether I want you to or not,” she said quietly. “I have a feeling we all will.”

 

XXX

 

            Equations seemed to swim in front of Nigeki’s eyes as he swallowed his hypnocil pill and laid out his futon. He’d had some hopes of getting to talk to Toriel and get to know her more outside of his studies, but she’d had one lesson after another to throw at him until everything seemed to blur together in front of him. There were plenty of notes to go over from all the math and history, but he was in no shape to try to absorb it that night.

            Especially after she’d shot down his attempt at an invitation to deepen things a little.

            It was a relief shutting his eyes, knowing there’d be no dreams to interrupt his sleep. His fingers were wrapped around the binding of the notebook Toriel helped him fill, and as he drifted away to sleep he held it against his chest.

            But once again it seemed like he’d barely fallen asleep before someone was banging on his door as loud as they could, even though there wasn’t even light coming in through the window. “I don’t care who it is, GO AWAY!” Nigeki yelled, then sighed and took a breath. “Who is it?”

            “Nigeki, please let me in!” said a distraught voice from the other side. It took his still fuzzy mind a second to recognize Kurumu Kurono’s voice. He’d barely opened the door before she came bursting in, threw her arms around him and as he stumbled back under the force of her  surprise tackle Nigeki’s foot got stuck in a divot he’d made running to answer the door when he’d known Toriel was there the day before.

Nigeki fell down hard, and after a second he noticed Kurumu was soaking his t-shirt with tears. He didn’t even hear the boy from the room downstairs whacking the roof with a broom to protest the noise.

“Kurumu…what’s wrong?!” he gasped.

“My mom! Somebody kidnapped her!” she wailed, her blue hair seeming to shimmer. “Someone kidnapped ALL of them! The whole town’s gone!”

“What?!” Nigeki exclaimed, and again couldn’t hear the boy downstairs hitting the ceiling trying to shut him up. “What happened?? How do you know something that awful’s happened??”

She caught him in a crushing hug before she answered, but the tears had stopped before she let go and managed to look him in the eye. “Somebody was going to visit the town and put the pictures on Frightbook! It’s been destroyed…but there were no bodies anywhere! That’s worse, right?”

Nigeki had to think it probably was. After all, if the people had been attacked, but hadn’t been killed, that meant there had to be some other reason for the attack than just trying to get rid of them. And given his dealings with humans lately, Nigeki was afraid to think of what that other reason could be.

“Did you tell anyone else about this yet?” Nigeki asked gently. Kurumu hugged him again for a second then shook her head. That meant she’d seen the news and come straight to him. And that meant she was counting on him to help her solve this.

And he realized that meant she trusted him more than anyone else at school.

 

XXX

 

            Somehow the darkness of night at Youkai Academy seemed darker than anywhere else he’d ever been in Makai Realm. But Crossbow, the motorcycle his brothers Mills had given him, lit up with just a touch of his hands. In the middle of the display was a glistening green dial surrounded by arcane symbols. It could be used to transport the bike and its riders almost anywhere in Makai Realm, but the only time he’d actually used it, Botan had calibrated it for him.

            Nigeki yanked his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial for Mills’ number. As it rang over and over Kurumu got on the back and slipped her arms around him, then buried her face between his shoulders. A tingle ran up his body from his waist and he almost dropped the phone before a groggy voice finally answered it.

            “Hello? Nigeki, is that you?”

            “You have my number under somebody else’s name for some reason?”

            “Why are you calling this late? You never call home…wait. Did you finally get laid, and you need somebody to tell?”

            “Shut the hell up!” Nigeki barked at his brother, but he heard a faint giggle from Kurumu and he could feel her face warming. “I need to go somewhere far away and I need you to tell me how to navigate with this bike you made.”

            “Oh, it’s easy,” Mills assured him.

            “If it’s so easy why couldn’t you tell me before??” Nigeki replied. But as Mills started to come back with a retort the hairs on Nigeki’s neck started to stand up, and the temperature dropped faintly around them. Anyone but a natural predator probably wouldn’t have noticed at all, but he knew exactly what it meant, and wasn’t surprised when a beautiful girl with long lavender hair and striped stockings on dropped down from out of nowhere and crouched on Crossbow’s handlebars.

            “Hi, Mizore,” Nigeki said.

            “Hi,” she said back, as flatly as anything she’d ever said to him. From out of nowhere she held up a warm, steaming bundle. “I brought something for you.”

            “That’s…nice, Mizore, but Kurumu and I are going to her old hometown—”

            The temperature plummeted and frost started forming on the bike. “Why?”

            “Are you there, Nigeki??” Mills asked over the phone. Kurumu giggled lightly and pulled herself even tighter against Nigeki’s back.

            “Because it was attacked and everyone disappeared!” Nigeki answered. Mizore frowned around her lollipop and the temperature started going up again.

            “My god! Why didn’t you say that before??!” Mills exclaimed in his ear.

            “Because I’m surrounded by girls and one of them was about to freeze the other one solid!” Nigeki yelled.

            “Oh WOW…” Mills said, then there was a dragging noise like he’d set down the phone. “Wait til Kai hears about this.”

            “I’m coming too,” Mizore informed them.

            “Mills, focus!” Nigeki snapped into the phone. “How do I set this thing?!”

            The only response for a second was amused chuckling. “Okay, okay. Here’s what you do…” Nigeki pressed his shoulder against his ear, holding his phone in place while he followed his brother’s instructions on the dial. After a second it started glowing with power.

The young vampire looked up at the girl crouched on the handlebars. “Mizore, do you think you could get off, please, so we can go?”

“If she moves so there’s room for me and the dinner I made you,” Mizore answered quietly.

“You’re sitting on the BACK,” Kurumu said in no uncertain terms.

Nigeki sighed as the chaos around him continued to explode. “Thanks, Mills! Tell Mei and Satsuki I say hi!” Then he hung up before Mills could needle him about the girls again. “Okay, let’s go…uh, I don’t really know to ride with so many people…”

“ **STOP!!** ”

“ _Now_ _what_?!” Nigeki snarled in aggravation.

Someone was running up out of the main school building their way, stumbled once on their long skirt and dropped a long wooden wand, picked it up and ran the rest of the way over to them. It was Ruby Toujo, the witch Nigeki and Mizore had saved from AGES and its assassins before. “Students aren’t allowed to leave campus without a chaperone,” she panted.

“You’re a chaperone?” Kurumu asked incredulously.

Ruby turned away, cupping her cheeks with her long elegant fingers and gazed distantly up at the moon. “It’s such a long story…so much has happened since I came back here…everyone’s been so kind to let me have a home here…”

Nigeki loudly cleared his throat to interrupt her. “Sorry to interrupt but we’re kind of in a hurry. And there’s no way there’s room on here for four people.”

“Oh, I have a bike,” Ruby replied casually.

 

XXX

 

            In the blink of an eye Ruby suddenly lifted up her skirt and whisked her entire outfit away, somehow wearing a purple catsuit, helmet and even goggles on, straddling a purple motorcycle that let out a roar to rival Crossbow’s.

            “She’s fast,” Mizore observed with quiet admiration.

            Nigeki just shook his head. He’d have to pace himself in reacting to weird stuff or he’d burn out too early. Giving Kurumu a long but unreadable look, Mizore got off Nigeki’s bike and climbed onto the back of Ruby’s instead, and strapped the pouch she’d brought along to her back.

            And then Kurumu gave a squeeze around Nigeki’s midriff that he thought seemed almost a panicked request to hurry. He squeezed the accelerator and Crossbow’s engine roared. As it picked up the speed it needed to transport itself lights went on in the dorm windows behind them. A pinprick of light formed in the air at the edge of the cliff overlooking the bloody sea. It got bigger and bigger, forming a glowing _hole_ just before Nigeki and Kurumu were about to ride right off the edge.

            Then they were riding through a strange foggy space. Even Nigeki’s vampiric senses couldn’t pick up anything: no shapes, smells, sounds, or sense of where he was. His fangs started to creep out and he gave a quiet growl he couldn’t help. No input made the hunter part of his mind nervous, even if he knew where he was going.

            He did.

            Didn’t he?

            He looked back over his shoulder for a second and saw Ruby leaning high over the handlebars of her own bike, while Mizore leaned backward calmly with her hands on the seat balancing herself.

            The air around them seemed to suck inward and then suddenly they were somewhere recognizable again. It had been a town, probably not that long ago. There were houses and small buildings around, most of them burnt and wrecked by some terrible battle. Windows were shattered, walls were smashed inward by something very strong pushing their way inside. A whole tree had been pulled out of its roots and used to knock a hole in a top floor window, and there were weird, totally smooth rectangular footprints everywhere.

            “Kurumu, this was your hometown, right?” Nigeki asked, and she nodded silently. “Was everyone else here a succubus too?” Again she nodded without a word. “Where did your family live? Let’s start there.” She pointed a long, dainty finger at a two-floor house that looked mostly undamaged. Nigeki parked Crossbow off the main road a little by the side of the house, just in case whoever did this might still be around and realize someone else was there.

            “We’ll go see if there’s anything over this way!” Ruby called. “Yell if you spot anything.” Then she and Mizore motored away down the street. Nigeki knitted his brow in confusion.

            Mizore he was used to sneaking around whenever he was, but Ruby had shown up awfully suddenly and didn’t seem at all surprised by them going to a decimated village. Had the faculty been expecting this? Just what did they have planned for him?

            Kurumu slipped past him up the stairs, letting out a little whimper of fear as she did. Nigeki ran after her in time to see her coming out of a devastated bedroom. “Anything?” he asked quietly, already guessing he knew the answer.

            She shook her head, but there was a small smile on her face anyway. “No, kaa-san wasn’t in there. She’ll be okay, since she must still be alive…” Then without waiting for his answer she walked past him into another bedroom around the other side of the stairs. Peeking in, Nigeki saw it must’ve been her room. A desk and what he assumed might’ve been a makeup table were knocked on their sides and the things on them scattered all over the floor, and the carpet had been ripped out to see if there were any hiding spots underneath.

            Kurumu didn’t pay attention to any of that. Instead she picked up a poster on the floor and groaned in despair at a splash of dirt across it. “Nooooo…I had to look so hard to get one of these!” she almost sobbed.

Nigeki stepped to her side and saw it was of a pale girl with an American cast to her skin and features, her mouth up against a microphone. Her long, thick hair was blonde at the top but faded into a rich magenta past her shoulders. She had on a matching indigo vest and pants with ridiculous pink knee-high boots decorated with yellow and green moons and stars. “Isn’t that…what’s her name, the American singer? Tash?”

Kurumu’s face lit up at the question. “ _You_ like her???”

“Well, I heard about her a lot when I was helping watch my little sisters. They’re big fans, apparently.”  
            Her expression recovered a little at that, and she rolled up her poster to take it with them. They checked a few of the other houses, and found they’d all be ransacked but there were no bodies or remains that Nigeki’s predatory senses picked out. “Thank god,” Kurumu murmured, then looked up at Nigeki, smiled and looped her arm through his. “Everyone’s still alive.”

“We don’t really know anything at this point,” Nigeki reminded her.

“But if nobody’s here they had to be captured instead of killed. That means we can find them and save them,” Kurumu replied happily.

“Yeah, if we look fast enough…Kurumu, you said your species was dying out, right? I wonder…maybe this town got attacked so the people could be used to help get the rest, somehow.”

As he expressed his thought Kurumu’s face fell, and she whapped him over the head with her poster of Tash. “Don’t say that! I was all reassured!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! But if we’re going to look into this we have to ask the question why they got attacked, don’t we?”

She shut her eyes and leaned on him lightly, sending a cold shiver up Nigeki’s spine. “I guess I was sort of hoping we’d find them right away and not have to,” she murmured. “Hey, what do you think happened to the guy who put those pictures up on Frightbook?”

“Stop,” Nigeki said suddenly, and Kurumu’s blood froze in her veins as she saw his fangs slip all the way into sight. “We’re not alone.”

A small object tumbled through the air toward them, hit the ground with a crunch and skidded to a stop a few feet away from them. It was a camera, its lens thoroughly cracked. “Anything he could’ve told you’s on there…if you can still get anything from it,” a snide voice called from down the street.

            Standing there was a robotic soldier a little like the kind Nigeki had fought before, but instead of looking like a block of metal with thick arms and legs and a small box-like head, this one was leaned over slightly as it approached on slender, jointed legs that looked to Nigeki’s hunter’s eye like they’d been designed for speed. Instead of a box-like head it had one with long jaws lined with sharp teeth like a crocodile’s, and instead of bulky arms coming off its sides three thin black tentacles waved up and down off of each shoulder. All over its body was covered in blue-colored armor plating.

            But Nigeki heard another pair of clanking footsteps off to his left and turned to see another robot with yellow armor walking their way, its waving tentacles cutting through the edge of the wall of the house it passed. As soon as he noticed that though he noticed the footsteps of another robot right behind them. It was crouched lower than the others and had on dark red armor.

            “Kurumu, get that camera,” Nigeki whispered. “I’ll keep them distracted.” He didn’t have much faith in his words, though. The robot troopers he’d fought before these had seemed like they’d been intended for general firepower. These ones looked more specialized, intended for pursuit and close combat. He used to be able to get by on the pure power of his transformation, but he was only just now being trained to fight. Against specialized fighting machines like these…he might be in trouble.

            “Crashers, attack!” came the voice from a speaker somewhere on its body again, and this time Nigeki had no doubt who it was. The voice sounded exactly like the crazed woman in the red hood he’d fought at Witch’s Knoll.

            Suddenly Yellow darted forward. His torso rotated freely of his body and slashed Nigeki with his tentacles. The tips ripped through Nigeki’s shirt and drew trails of blood across his body. Nigeki ducked just in time to avoid one cutting across his throat.

            But then Blue and Red came at him, Red ducking lower and aiming its tentacles at his legs while Blue aimed high at his shoulders and head. Nigeki braced himself to jump but suddenly Yellow’s tendrils lashed out like whips and coiled around his arms to hold him in place, their razor-sharp edges cutting into his arms as he tried to pull free.

            “ **NO!!** ” Kurumu screamed, turning away from where the camera was lying on the ground and running in Nigeki’s direction. Her wings had already formed and the fingernails on her free hand had grown into two-foot pink claws.

            “ **Henshin!** ” Nigeki yelled. The gem in his belt glowed as its energy was released. A protective shell of red and black crawled over his body, seeming to move tauntingly slowly as the red and blue robots closed in for the kill. As it spread across his shoulders and down his arms, it tried to flow underneath the sharpened tendrils already cutting into his skin. It made the sharp edges dig around in his arms and cut the wounds they’d already made even wider as the gel form of his armor fought to get underneath, and Nigeki gave a ragged cry of pain like an angry wolf’s.

            Kurumu stopped and took a step back at Nigeki in that second. Eyes blazing with anger and pain, fangs jabbing out of his jaws. He looked every bit the merciless hunter a vampire was supposed to be.

            Then finally the red gel forced the tendrils off his arms long enough to solidify. His chestplate and mask appeared in front and back and clamped down on Nigeki, changing him to Kamen Rider Bloodstone again. He jumped high before Yellow’s tendrils could snare him again. Blue and Red’s tendrils slashed the sides of his boots as he went up.

            Bloodstone landed one foot on top of each of their heads, then jumped off again for the branches of a tree between two houses. Suddenly Yellow opened his mouth and a crackling beam of electricity ripped from a small plasma globe in the back of his throat. Bloodstone jumped away and it sizzled through the tree, cutting it in half and the top crashing down on the street.

Bloodstone came down near Blue, fist cocked back for his strongest punch, but Blue opened his fanged mouth and a blast of shimmering white gas puffed out and covered Bloodstone. He yelled in surprise and slammed into Blue who opened his mouth again and clamped down on his Bloodstone’s chest with his powerful jaws, the Rider’s body covered in a layer of ice chips from the gas.

Red charged up and spewed a blast of fire from his mouth that spread over Bloodstone. He screamed in pain again as the heat burned at his thin armor. He pounded on Blue’s head and kicked at the robot’s stomach trying to shake himself loose. One punch hit on the very bottom of Blue’s jaw and it snapped open letting Bloodstone jump back from the robot, his armor blacked by the flame. He shivered horribly from the ice still covering him and before he had a chance to attack again was blown off his feet by one of Yellow’s electric blasts.

From a relatively safe altitude Kurumu gasped as Bloodstone was pummeled by the three robots, and desperately clutched at the crystal ball Nigeki’s brother had sent her. The one that could, if they had a powerful bond, combine her with Bloodstone into a single monster with all of their powers amplified. When she’d needed to use it before, though, in that fight in the vault underneath the school, nothing happened…

She tried to focus on the best times they’d had together. When she’d come and offered cookies an apology for controlling his mind, that time he’d come and cheered her up after she’d admitted to Moka her species was dying. When she and all the others formed an army and took on the Security Committee to save Nigeki when they’d captured him.

Kurumu looked into the crystal, hoping to see some spark of power or _something_ showing it was working. All she saw inside was a wobbling mass of grey, the same as always. Was there really nothing she could do?

Below her Blue sprayed his freezing breath over Bloodstone again then knocked the stunned vampire down with a vicious servo-powered kick to his back. He went sprawling, then pushed himself up to his hands and knees as the robots closed in to attack again.

“ **NO!!** ” Kurumu screamed. She went into a desperate dive at the gang of robots. But before she was anywhere near close enough to launch an attack she spotted a blur of motion as something jumped to what was left of the roof of a house. Another robot with razor-tentacles instead of arms and a crocodile-like mouth, but with dark green armor. His mouth opened and a huge glass dart, full of some bubbling green venom, shot out and dug into Bloodstone’s arm.

His body twitched horribly once, shaking black bits off his armor. A thin, bubbling cloud of foam formed at the edges of his mouthplate, then Bloodstone fell to his knees and his armor melted off his body.

And with that Nigeki fell face-first to the street and didn’t move.

Before Kurumu could think about coming to his rescue something whistled through the air and buried itself between her shoulders. Her blood itself seemed to burn, and then the next thing she knew she was falling, the strength gone from her body…

 

XXX

 

            **Know it’s been a while since I’ve spent a long time finishing up Devil’s Nail, but I’m finding my groove again after the confusion of the last arc. Trying to give some other girls more time in the spotlight, get more of a feel for a good OTP. It’s probably not going to be with Toriel, despite Nigeki’s crush, but that’ll probably him figure out who it should be with (incidentally, I don’t know, but I constantly imagine her human form as basically Rose Quartz from Steven Universe with white hair instead of pink).**

**If the scene where they’re trying to set up the navigation on the bike was a little hard to follow, I was trying to have some harem comedy chaos in there. Need to get better at that, and need to include light stuff more often.**

 

            **Also, big thanks to Magna-Ryunoid, who was awesome enough to do some artwork of Bloodstone out of the goodness of his heart over on Deviantart. Please give it a look!**


	12. Chapter 23 - The Taking of Ageha Kurono

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone Chapter 23 – The Taking of Ageha Kurono**

 

            It couldn’t end like this.

            There were still so many things Kurumu wanted to do. She wanted to visit New York City; it had always looked so big and exciting with so many things to do, you could spend weeks there and not run out. She’d planned out exactly how she was going to set up her first kiss. What she was going to wear at her wedding.

            But she hadn’t even been on one real, lousy date, had she? With a boy who honestly wanted to be around her, who looked at her and saw something besides her rack and curves. Did even Nigeki see that? Was that why they hadn’t combined? If only she had…if only she had made more time to get to know him…if only he hadn’t had to spend so much time off campus…if only…if only…

            The four Crashers, vicious crocodile-faced robotic killers, gathered around Nigeki where he lay on the ground. They were looking up at Kurumu as she fell, and she imagined they were thinking about what she tasted like.

            Then suddenly Kurumu noticed something. It was only out of the corner of her eye but somehow she could see the figure as clearly as if she was looking right at him. He wore a long black coat over a white turtleneck sweater, and leaned on a cane that seemed to be nothing be a sliver of black coming out of his hand. His face was a smiling white mask with one eye bigger than the other, different colored eyes glowing inside them. But his hands…his hands were white skeletal things with holes in the middle, and Kurumu could swear she saw wailing faces appear inside those holes only to disappear, replaced by new ones in the next second.

            The Crashers had turned and spotted him too. Kurumu landed hard on Nigeki’s back then, and he groaned pitifully at it, but at least it meant he was still alive. The masked man pointed at the Crashers, and the smile on his mask seemed to widen as he turned his hand to make the hole on the back of it face them.

But then a slimy black tendril crawled out of his back and another bony hand with a hole in the middle formed out of it. Another, then another until seven hands on black tendrils peeked over his shoulders. A hideous, garbled noise, somehow sounding like words but in no language Kurumu could imagine, started coming from the holes in the man’s hands.

            The effect was immediate and intense. The Crashers started to jerk back and forth spastically, sparks flying from their joints. Kurumu gasped and looked over at Nigeki, who managed to look up and meet her eyes.

She turned back to look at the masked man, but he was gone. Where he was standing was a single drooping flower with an ugly black bloom.

            Just as suddenly as the masked man had disappeared a murder of screaming crows flew through the disoriented Crashers and scattered them. Then a harsh voice came, “ **Blizzard Heart! SYNCH!** ” An icy white light erupted nearby, where Mizore was holding her crystal ball in her hands. The glow surrounded her, and absorbed her into it before flying straight at Nigeki’s chest.

            He managed to gasp out “ **Henshin!** ” and his red and black coated started slithering over his body again before the orb landed on top of his heart. He gasped in pain but his armor appeared over his body again, chips of ice all over it now as he and Mizore combined into one super-monster thanks to the Sacred Gear in his body.

            Bloodstone pushed himself up with restored strength and launched himself at the nearest Crasher, the blue one who spewed a mouthful of freezing gas all over him. But Bloodstone just kept coming, the ice forming on his body just joining the frozen spikes on his armor. When he threw a punch the icicle claws on his gauntlet were even longer and dug even deeper into the bottom of its long lower jaw.

            He started to twist the hand impaling the Crasher’s jaw and the metal creaked as its head was pulled to the side. The Crasher started swinging its sharp tentacle arms at Bloodstone but as the first came down he grabbed it with his other hand and immediately ice spread from where he touched it. Bloodstone squeezed and it easily split in half, the broken ends spewing sparks and tiny bolts of electricity.

            “ **Diamond Flurry!** ” came the dark voice of the Bloodstone itself. A storm of giant snowflakes shot off the ice crystals formed on his shoulders in all directions, slicing through Blue Crasher’s tentacles before they could even touch him. He twisted his wrist one last time and with a sound like an animal’s dying scream the Crasher’s head was pulled right off. Bloodstone jumped high, somersaulted in the air and chopped through its body in one blow. The pieces fell down and one started to roll down the hill.

            And in the next second Bloodstone was already in the air before a bolt of lightning sizzled the ground where he’d been. He arced backward through the air with all of the Crashers’ electronic eyes tracking him every inch of the way.

As he hit the ground a bolt of electricity jumped through the air from Yellow Crasher. Bloodstone quickly sprinted to one side like he’d seen the shot before it was ever fired, but as he weaved back and forth through ruined houses to attack the robot suddenly a green blur appeared behind him and its black tentacles whipped out and stabbed into Bloodstone’s back.

The mouthplate of Bloodstone’s mask cracked from the sudden shock of the attack. Before he could recover and attack, Red Crasher ran in front of him and spewed a jet of billowing flames into Bloodstone’s face. The armored vampire shook back and forth in silent pain. The crystal ball lodged in his chest shook and went flying away. It smacked into the side of a house and reformed into a dazed Mizore.

The icy additions to Bloodstone’s armor melted off and a second later Bloodstone was blown off his feet. He rolled a few times, dragged himself to Mizore’s side and grabbed the remains of a wall to pull himself up. Then, in a scene that made Kurumu’s blood seem to stop flowing in her veins, he helped the yuki onna to her feet too.

The murder of crows that had distracted the Crashers before turned around, looking like a gigantic screaming cloud as they came in. Red Crasher charged Bloodstone and Mizore, but the vampire touched the gemstone in his belt. The red material of his armor started to melt and then blasted away from his body in all directions. A wave of it caught Red Crasher in the face and flowed into his mouth and eyes, and knocked the savage robot off its feet for a second.

The cloud of crows went low and swarmed between the surviving Crashers. They flew in the killer robots’ faces, pecked furiously at their photocell eyes and beat their wings and flew back and forth to keep the robots swarmed and covered. Yellow Crasher spewed a blast of lightning and cut a gash through the dark birds, but in a second the crows had recovered and closed it again. The other Crashers thrashed with their tentacles and shot bolts of fire into the crows, then suddenly the birds flew away. The three Crashers looked around, seeing nothing up or down the street but the bodies of the crows they’d managed to kill with their attacks which were already dissolving into black smoke on the wind.

The monsters had escaped them.

 

XXX

 

            **Assembled Gene-stock Elimination Section**.

            A grandiose title for a pack of bigoted vigilante killers, however big the guns they had were. But still, those guns seemed bigger all the time, and only a few hours ago they’d been aimed at her town.

            “Mrs. Kurono…what are they going to do to us?” asked a young girl from the other side of the armored transport they were trapped in. Tears were pooling in the corners of her eyes, and Ageha was reminded of that night so many years ago when her daughter had asked to borrow one of her best necklaces. Then at the end of the day, Kurumu came home with skinned knees and splattered in mud, tears in her eyes and stammering with fear when she admitted the necklace had gotten broken in a fight with some boys and fallen in the river. Kurumu had been afraid her mother was going to throw her out with the trash for losing the necklace.

            And Ageha had laughed as reassuringly as she could, then hugged Kurumu and took her inside and gave her a piece of chocolate, they watched Kurumu’s favorite movie and fell asleep together on the sofa. It had been a day she’d never forgotten…

            She looked past the girl at the girl’s mother, who was still mercifully unconscious. “I don’t know, Shoko,” Ageha finally said. “I want to hope we’ll be okay, though.”

            The girl sniffled, wiped her eyes on the dirty sleeve of her dress and tried to smile. Ageha couldn’t help snorting a bit in laughter at the dark smear the dirt left across the girl’s nose. She bent down and gave Shoko a reassuring hug.

            Although she had no idea how they’d survive this…

 

XXX

 

            It had been minutes since they could hear the sound of the Crashers’ feet tearing up the ground looking for them, and Ruby gasped in exhaustion before dropping to her knees and letting Nigeki’s body roll off her. Mizore set Kurumu down, and the succubus was glad not to feel her rival’s icy fingers on her shoulders anymore. Had Mizore been doing that on purpose…?

            “Thanks for carrying me out of there, Ruby,” Nigeki managed to groan, his strength gone thanks to Green Crasher’s poison.

            “You might not be so grateful after you see the shape of your school uniform,” the wtich replied before she flopped out on the ground next to him. Kurumu growled in spite of her own helplessness, and Mizore giggled quietly, just making Kurumu growl again, louder.

            “But since we’re safe, at least for now” Ruby continued, “we need to see about getting you some help. I’ll see if I can sneak back and get the bikes.”

            “Wait. Who’s going to drive the second one?” Nigeki stopped her.

            Mizore got up and smiled. “I’m not so bad,” she said quietly.

            “When did you ever learn to ride a motorcycle?!” Kurumu demanded.

            Mizore just shrugged, her smile not wavering. “Miss Felicia showed me how to use hers after I told her how cool it was.”

            Nigeki stared at her in disbelief, or was it amazement? Mizore’s cheeks pinked a little. “It’s kind of awesome to ride one, actually,” she said with a playful shrug.

            “Kurumu, don’t,” Nigeki said, but there was no strength in his words. Kurumu scratched at the ground to a fairly big rock, grabbed it and managed to haul herself up until she could sit up.

            “How did you find out she even _had_ a motorcycle for you to learn to ride??” Kurumu snarled in irritation, disbelief. Was she really _that_ far behind this creepy stalker girl?

            Again Mizore only shrugged and smiled lightly. “I’m good at seeing things. And I’m trying the hardest. That’s why I’m winning.”

            “Girls, please don’t—” Nigeki tried to interrupt before this could turn ugly. The two of them looked right past him, and he was a little surprised to see Kurumu be the one to practically be staring icicles at Mizore.

            “Yeah?? We’ll see who’s trying the hardest after we get back from this!” Kurumu snapped. Mizore’s smile didn’t move on her cool, beautiful face.

            Thankfully the argument was interrupted when Ruby came up the path toward where she’d left them leading Crossbow and her own bike. Mizore hooked Nigeki’s arm around her shoulders and helped him limp to Crossbow’s back seat then climb on.

            Kurumu scowled but turned away to make sure Nigeki couldn’t see it. “You said you knew where we could get help?” she asked Ruby to try to sound as constructive as she could.

            “To a witch who lives nearby,” the witch answered. “Hopefully she’ll have some of the answers we need.”

 

XXX

 

            A few hours later, as the sun was dipping below the horizon, Ruby stopped her bike and gently stepped off in front of a tree stump, weathered white with time. She tapped it three times with her wand, the third one shooting a spark of pink energy into the wood, then stepped back.

            “Grandmother Zekova, reveal your retreat to us!” Ruby called out. “I am Ruby Toujo! I have friends who’ve been injured by human raiders!”

            The ground shook and the tree stump started to rise, revealing it was the tip of a wider tree stump. At least, it looked like a bigger tree stump for a minute until it had completely emerged from the ground and small, eye-shaped windows appeared flanking a door made of a darker red wood.

            Ruby knocked on the door with her wand, and again with the last knock a spark of power jumped from it to the door. The pink light spread out until it reached the edges of the door, and Ruby called out, “Grandmother, we come seeking aid!”

            There was no answer for a few minutes. Suddenly Nigeki was sure he saw one of the front windows blink, and a voice called back from inside. “I want none of your business. Go back where you came from.”

            “Grandmother Zekova, I have friends who need your help!” Ruby pressed her request. “We’re looking for the succubi who’ve been captured from the town near here!”

            “No concern of mine if something happens to a bunch of self-absorbed monster bitches,” the voice retorted. “Go away before you get hurt!”

            Ruby sighed and lowered her wand. But instead of walking back to the bikes as Nigeki expected, she said, “Grandmother, we’ve seen the Man Who Speaks in Hands. He left this for us.”

            Nigeki stared at her in surprise. The Man Who Speaks in Hands? Had that really been him, the weird man in the mask? It had to be him though, didn’t it? With the weird sounds coming out of his hands Nigeki couldn’t understand, but somehow knew were words…Not to mention he’d revealed himself to Ruby and Mizore too? What did he want with them?

            A minute passed in silence, then the door to the house slowly slid open, and a wrinkled old woman’s face, framed by stringy silver hair, peered back at them. She had a hooked nose right off the witch in every human fairy tale Nigeki had read to his little sisters before bed and laughed right alongside them. “What did he give you, girl?” she asked in the voice that had warned them to leave a minute before. The Man’s existence was being hushed so heavily, if this old witch all the way out here and heard of him, she had to be very well connected.

            Ruby unfolded her fingers and revealed a flat blue disc that glistened like a gemstone. “He appeared before us, then suddenly he was gone and this was where he’d been. I’m not sure what it is, but I feel sure he meant for us to have it.”

            “Don’t try to act like you understand his motives, girl,” the old woman said. “Don’t try to act like you understand anything. I know who you are. I know you’ve never been off that hill in your life before.” But she’d walked outside of her house now and was leaning over to examine the gemstone in Ruby’s hand. After another minute she turned away from them and murmured, “You’d better come in. Don’t dawdle out here, it isn’t safe.”

           

XXX

 

            Soon Mizore propped Nigeki up next to the small fireplace in Grandmother Zekova’s one-room house, and sat down rubbing her side against his with a sly smile on her face. Kurumu wanted to scowl as Ruby let down her limp body on the other side room, but wanted to give Mizore the satisfaction even less.

            The witch who owned the house looked in Nigeki’s eyes, inside his mouth past his fangs and pricked his fingertip and held the drops of blood she collected under a wide round crystal. Then she mumbled to herself, questions like “Was it six flakes or seven? Or only five?” and “Giltroot should do…need to save the pexas petals, was such a pitiful crop this year.” She scooped handfuls of colorful powders out of jars and poured them into a small pot, added water and set it to hang in the fireplace. “This should fix your friends up so they can move again, but it’ll be a while before they’re up for much more than that,” she told Ruby.

            “We’re grateful for any help you can give us, Grandmother,” the younger witch said with a bow.

            Zekova frowned a little and coughed. “You’re just kids, why are you mixed up in something like this?”

            Kurumu was about open her mouth and snarl a retort that they were looking for the people from her town. Before she got the chance someone answered for her. “We’re mixed up in this because a friend of mine used to live in the town that the humans just attacked. We want to find out where they’re taking the people and if we can save them,” Nigeki explained. Kurumu stared over at him, impressed to hear him sticking up for her like that, but at the same time confused at how it felt. How long had it been since she’d heard that?

            “That’s a stupid, **CRAZY** answer,” Zekova replied. “Especially coming from a kid like you. I don’t care if you are one of those fangers.”

            “Yeah, I guess it is,” Nigeki said and gave an unsteady smile. “I don’t know if I’m really doing this ‘friend’ thing right yet.”

            “You’re doing the ‘teenager who overrates themselves’ thing just fine,” Zekova muttered. “Girl, give me that thing our masked friend left for you.” Ruby obediently held out the blue gem. Zekova took it, then took out a gnarled wand with a tip carved to look like a crow’s foot. She yelled a few words in some strange Slavic-sounding language none of them understood. Ruby jumped in surprise, and Nigeki and Kurumu probably would’ve too if they could’ve moved yet. Mizore looked up for a second then shut her eyes and leaned on Nigeki again.

            Kurumu just sighed and waited for the witch’s cure to finish. Mizore was rubbing her confidence of her being in the lead in Kurumu’s face, but Nigeki had answered Kurumu’s call for help in the middle of the night and come all the way out here to help her, right? He hadn’t thought for a second about risking himself to help her when she needed him. People didn’t do that for just anyone…

            “What you have here is a tracking talisman,” Zekova said, interrupting her thoughts. “It’s very powerful, but at the same time it’s very limited.”

            “What do you mean, Grandmother?” Ruby asked her.

            Zekova took a breath and went on. “This will locate anything or anyone you choose, no matter where in the world they are. Perhaps, even to other worlds…,” she trailed off. To other worlds? Just what was the Man Who Speaks in Hands, and just how much power did he **have**? “But it will only track that one chosen thing, then it will be used up. If I had to guess, I’d say he wants to see what you do with it.”

            “You sure seem to know a lot, for how far you are from anywhere,” Nigeki pointed out. “What do you know about this guy? And why is everyone trying to cover him up? My cousin in America heard about him, but they were punishing people there just for coming too close to a wall that had his name painted on it.”

            Zekova handed the blue gemstone back to Ruby and gave the young vampire a pointed look. “They’re trying to cover it up, are they? Typical monsters…hiding is their answer to everything. But what do I know about him? He appeared out of nowhere, he can appear anywhere he wants, it seems likes. And no one knows what he wants or what his plans are.”

            “I kind of figured that out on my own,” Nigeki replied, sounding a bit disappointed.

            “Then I guess if you want better answers you’d need to be quick enough to ask him yourself,” Zekova replied.

Ruby walked over to Kurumu and held out the gem. “Why don’t you ask it for what we need to find?”

The succubus looked down at her reflection in the gem’s flat surface. Her eyes still looked a little swollen from her tears of panic earlier, and she bit her lip and tried to ignore it. “Tell me where the people from my town are,” she said, hoping that would be what it needed.

A flash of light jumped from the gem into the air, seemed to struggle into the shape of an arrow for a second, but then faded away with a soft pop. “What was that??” Kurumu asked in surprise.

“Probably what you asked for wasn’t specific enough,” Zekova replied. “Try again.”

“All right,” Kurumu said, then sighed and said, “Show us where my mom is, Ageha Kurono…”

 

XXX

 

            The darkness of the back of the prison transport was suddenly shattered by the rear door grinding open and a harsh light flooding in through the opening. It came from the blinding flashlights mounted on the rifle barrels of two soldiers in helmets with opaque visors. Looking over their shoulders was a boxy robot with shining red eyes in his flat silver face. After a minute the soldiers stepped back, but kept their weapons pointed at the succubi.

            “Everyone out,” one of them said, his voice muffled slightly by his visor.

            An old woman near the door got up and walked slowly toward the door. She looked unafraid but tired, because she had the least to lose, Ageha supposed. The other prisoners slowly got up went to file out of the vehicle. Shoko, the little girl Ageha had reassured before was the last. She looked up at the line of people then down at her mother, who was still curled up at the back of the transport, not moving.

            “Everyone out!” the soldier barked again, louder and angrier.

            “My mom’s hurt, she can’t move,” Shoko answered, looking down at her mother again.

            The soldiers stepped back again, and the robot pushed the line of succubi out of the way and stomped to the back of the transport, then picked up Shoko’s mother roughly, his giant metal hand easily closing around her whole torso and hoisting her off the ground. She slumped in its grip, still unconscious. Then the robot stomped back to the doorway again.

            Shoko gaped in terror as her mother was taken away, then up at Ageha, probably hoping for more reassurance. But Ageha couldn’t give it. At that moment she stopped and a chill shot up her spine. It felt for a second like someone was calling her.

            A call from an impossible distance, but from someone she knew immediately.

            “Kurumu…?”

 

XXX

 

            Much slower than he wanted, Nigeki’s fist uncurled, but at least he was starting to move again. “Thank you,” he said to the elder witch.

            “Don’t thank me, kid,” Zekova answered. “It’s going to be at least a day before you’re back to normal. You aren’t going to be much use in a fight until then.”

            “Have you ever had to fight somebody with your bare hands?” Nigeki asked.

            “Maybe,” Zekova answered, but practically as a group the rest raised a dubious eyebrow.

            Nigeki just shook his head with a faint smile. “Well, I have a couple times. So let me worry about that, okay?”

            “You barely survived the last one you were in,” Zekova pointed out in a mumble. Nigeki didn’t seem to hear her and just mounted Crossbow. Mizore started to climb up behind him but then Kurumu came diving out of the sky, black wings flared wide, and landed in the backseat behind Nigeki first. She glared at Mizore so harshly steam almost seemed to start rising from the yuki onna’s head. After a second she walked over and got on Ruby’s motorcycle instead. In the front. The younger witch bowed in gratitude to Zekova then turned around and started toward the bikes then started as she saw Mizore sitting in her seat.

            Ruby started to open her mouth, probably to protest, but finally shook her head and got up behind her. “Thank you,” Nigeki said over his shoulder to Zekova. The witch just made a “hmmm!” sound then walked back into her strange house. The ground shook as it sank back underground. But Nigeki was already riding away on Crossbow as it disappeared into the dirt.

            Kurumu curled her arms around Nigeki’s body as the ground turned bumpy, but then he felt her cheek pressing between his shoulders, her round pillowy breasts pushing against the small of his back, and he blushed. “Hey, Kurumu?” he said over his shoulder. She turned enough to look him in the eye. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “Those Crasher things were tough but we already beat one, right? Now it’ll be easier to beat the rest.

            She looked away. “I wish I could believe that. It was the one you and Mizore were strongest against…the easiest one for you to beat.”

            “Don’t say ‘you’ like that,” Nigeki replied. “Like only the three of us have something helpful we can do.”

            She gave him a strange look, like she couldn’t quite believe he was saying something like that to her. “I can’t charm a robot,” she retorted. “I probably can’t even charm those guys who kidnapped everyone.”

            Nigeki looked away too, and then said something that surprised himself as much as what he’d said before apparently surprised Kurumu. “Guess I’ll have to prove it to you, then.”

            Kurumu pressed her face between his shoulders again. No more words were going to convince her so he just focused on the blue gemstone mounted on his bike. Above it was a strange wisp of light shaped vaguely like an arrow but it shifted and crackled. To Nigeki’s mind, it seemed as if it flickered like that because it didn’t belong in their world. Like a radio signal from too far away coming in garbled.

            But as they drove the arrow glowed brighter and brighter, and Nigeki was sure they were going to find the missing people.

 

XXX

 

            Again a gun barrel was jammed against Ageha’s spine, and she gasped. The AGES soldiers were herding her and the other succubi into a heavy metal door in the side of a concrete bunker. Flanking it were a pair of their robot troops. She was sure if she went through there, she’d never get back out.

            “Move it, you filthy monster!” the soldier snapped and jabbed his gun at Ageha again. She waited until right before he was about to hit her, then with all the poise and timing that had served her so many times on the runway, she dodged suddenly and hooked her foot behind the soldier’s leg and twisted, pulling him to the ground with her.

            The other soldier filled the air with shots from his rifle but Ageha wasn’t where he’d been aiming anymore. Her wings exploded out of her back and she flew across the yard, then turned to face the robot trooper who’d been overseeing the gathering of her friends. His chest flipped open to reveal a cannon barrel that was already glowing with the power of a massive attack. Ageha had one of her own, though: she yanked down her top and two blazing beams shot out and punched two fiery holes through the robot’s body. He staggered, his cannon weapon sparked a few times, then he erupted in a cloud of flame.

            Already Ageha was gone, shooting into the sky like a missile before the AGES guards could recover and attack again. She only knew she was heading in the direction she thought she’d felt a call coming from a minute ago. Somehow she was sure she’d find help there…

 

XXX

 

            The dead trees around her blurred as Undyne hefted the yellow-skinned colossus onto her scaled shoulders and jumped high into the air. The troll grunted in surprise at the sudden reversal in their scuffle and thrashed around trying to escape, but he was nothing compared to some of the boulders she’d lifted. She lifted him and spun him above her head, then came down with her opponent in a pilediver. As his head hit the ground the air itself seemed to shake with the awesome force of the impact.

            It hadn’t been as strong the back drop that had knocked out Chopper Rikishi, but as the troll dropped unconscious in front of her, the new head of Youkai Academy’s security couldn’t help feeling proud of it all the same.

            “Hrragh!”

            She looked over to see another troll, smaller than the one Undyne herself had taken care of, went flying off the back legs of a blonde centaur girl. Across the field a green-scaled merman sprayed a faceful of purple gas into the face of another troll. As the troll gasped and gagged, the merman planted his hands and went into a handstand then whipped his legs forward and delivered a kick that connected with his opponent’s chin and sent him flying.

            The two trolls crashed into each other in midair and the trees within twenty feet quivered from their collision. Undyne looked around, but there were no other troll punks in sight. “Centorea! Enrique!” Undyne barked. “Did the two of you see anyone else on your way in?”

            The centaur girl whipped around and saluted. “No, captain! No one else was spotted as we moved to rendezvous with you!”

            Enrique the merman raised his eyebrow in faint disbelief at Centorea’s intensity, but he also saluted Undyne. “No, ma’am. These were the only ones I saw either. How’s the victim?”

            Undyne smiled, and the two young monsters flinched slightly at the sight of her knife-like teeth. The new Public Security Committee was pretty much just the three of them and a few others for now, but they were turning out to be good soldiers. Undyne turned toward the student they’d been ganging up on, a dark-haired first year girl who was still quivering with fear. She hadn’t even thought to transform, she’d been so scared. “It’s all right now, kiddo,” Undyne said quietly and bent down to comfort the girl. But as she did, Undyne suddenly spotted something strange outside the girls’ dorm…

            There, staring up at a window on the top floor, was a short woman with curly blonde hair and coke bottle glasses. Undyne recognized her immediately as Alphys, her girlfriend, her little buck teeth sticking out adorably as always. But next to her was someone in a long black coat, leaning on a thin cane and wearing a smooth, smiling white mask. Glowing eyes like blazing coals, of two different colors but she somehow couldn’t tell which ones peered out of the eye sockets. And below them was a mouth turned up in a hideous rictus grin.

            But as soon as she was sure she’d seen the masked figure she blinked for just a second and he was gone. Alphys was alone in the field behind the girls’ dorm.

            What was she doing there, Undyne wondered.

            And who had been the strange figure with her?

            Undyne’s stomach clenched as she though on the image of that weird masked face, and the sudden unshakeable feeling she’d known a name to go with it, once…

 

XXX

 

            **Well here’s the new chapter, maybe a little shorter than usual. Wanted to give Kurumu the chance for some drama and to show her family situation too. Hopefully I can handle this better than the last mini-arc >_<.**

**If wasn’t clear enough on just what the hell Ageha did to the AGES robot, it was meant to be like her nipple lasers that she showed off in the parents day episode of the second season. Yeah, really, nipple lasers. Might sound goofy but I picked it for something both devastating and surprising. She has an awesome rack in more than one sense of the word!**

**Anyway, hope the Crashers seem like pretty tough customers (can you guess who they’re based on after their names and elements?). How will the kids stand up to them? Will Kurumu finally find the confidence to make a difference?**


	13. Chapter 24 - A Life Worth Losing

**Kamen Rider Bloodstone Chapter 24 – A Life Worth Losing**

 

            The chatter coming from the grinning man’s hands went silent as they disappeared into the blackness of his coat, seeming to fade into the distance instead of just slipping into his pockets as he pulled them back. Then Alphys blinked and he was gone, as if he’d never been there at all.

            And then without warning a powerful hand clamped down on her shoulder. She looked up in fear and gaped for a second before she recognized the tall, skinny lady with the eyepatch and dark red ponytail. “Oh, Undie! You scared me for a second!”

            “Don’t call me that,” Undyne whispered angrily. “Especially not in front of the other guards!”

            “Guards?” asked Alphys, peering around her girlfriend at the students who’d been helping her fight.

            “Never mind that!” Undyne scowled. “I was scared about _you_. Who was that guy you were talking to? It looked kind of like you knew him. Was that—”

            But Alphys waved her pudgy hands defensively. “He just appeared in front of me, then looked at me for a second and disappeared again! I don’t know what the heck he wanted”

            For a second Undyne just looked down at the runty little scientist, a sharp glint in her eye that Alphys had never seen pointed at her before.

But Alphys immediately flashed her shiny scared puppy eyes back at the head of the Security Committee. “Undie…don’t you believe me?” Alphys whimpered.

“Awwww!” Undyne picked the tiny science teacher up and kissed her fiercely. Alphys turned bright red and after a second flapped back in Undyne’s arms, unconscious. “You’re too sweet to be mixed up with…whoever that guy was.” Then she muttered to herself, “We’ve really got to figure out how we’re gonna have a sex life if you keep doing this, though…”

As Undyne walked away, carrying Alphys in her arms still, she strained at her memory. She _knew_ she recognized that scary grinning guy Alphys has been standing with.

But from where?

 

XXX

 

            “Is it getting stronger?”

            Kurumu kept her eyes shut in concentration for another second, then the young beauty opened her dark violet eyes. Nigeki looked at her until she tilted her head and knitted her brow and he realized he’d been staring, then whipped around to face ahead again, blushing.

            Behind him Kurumu smirked a little since he couldn’t see it. “Yeah, it feels closer than last time…actually, it feels like it’s still getting closer even if we’re not moving now.”

            He looked back at her, confused to hear that. They were trying to track down her mother, who must’ve been kidnapped by a group of militant human supremacists. How could she be the one getting closer to them?

            But regardless Nigeki held up his hand as he heard the other motorcycle getting closer, and the pink bike stopped next to him. Ruby, the witch sent along to “chaperone” them, leaned back from the handlebars and carefully moved her riding goggles to the brow of her pink and purple helmet. She was taking bike safety a hell of a lot more seriously than the rest of them.

            As she stopped the other passenger on her bike sat up too, Mizore Shirayuki, the beautiful but eccentric yuki onna who’d invited herself along on their rescue mission too. As usual she said nothing, her lips wrapped gently around the stick of a lollipop.

            “Why are we stopping? Did you see something?” Ruby asked.

            “Kind of. Kurumu thinks her mom’s getting closer to us,” Nigeki explained.

            “We’re getting close?”

            “No, _she’s_ getting closer to _us_ ,” he answered and looked back over his shoulder. “Right?”

            Kurumu looked up into the sky through a break in the trees. “…right.” Everyone else looked up too and saw a bat-winged shape in the sky overhead. Nigeki strained his predator’s eyes and could make out a woman with bright blue hair in a short red dress. She had wide black wings just like Kurumu’s when she revealed her monster form, and…and…AND…!!!

            Nigeki looked away, his face bright red. “What? What’s wrong??” Kurumu asked. Then the flying woman seemed to see them and flew lower. Then Kurumu saw it too and her face turned blazing red, holding up her clenched hands in front of her mouth in embarrassment.

            Ruby clapped a hand over her mouth in disbelief too, but couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of the woman descending toward them.

            Mizore chuckled.

            Then the woman landed in front of Nigeki and Kurumu. “What are you doing out here, young lady??” she immediately demanded.

            “We heard about the town so we came to help, mom,” Kurumu said quietly.

            “She’s your mom?” Nigeki asked, surprised.

            The woman stepped forward and took Nigeki’s hand. “Yes I am,” she answered herself. “You can call me Ageha…but never mind me, who might _you_ be? Did Kurumu finally find herself a real boyfriend?”

            “Mom…” Kurumu tried to gently interrupt.

            Nigeki’s blush got even darker and spread to his fingers as Ageha lifted his hand and pressed it to her cheek. He looked like he was about to explode. Icy knives started forming over Mizore’s fingers, but Ruby held out her wand in front of Mizore, who stepped back and just observed. “Such warm, strong hands…have you used those on my daughter on yet? It would do her a lot of good,” Ageha said with a friendly, teasing smile.

            “Mom…” Kurumu said again, but still Ageha didn’t seem to hear her.

            “She pretends she knows a lot about seducing boys, but she’s really still a virgin,” Ageha went on, licking Nigeki’s palm. “Yes, so _strong_ , so _warm_ …”

            Nigeki tried to pull away but seemed to have lost all his strength. “I just drank before we left, that’s why it’s so warm,” he tried to explain. Then Ageha took his index finger into her mouth and teased her tongue slooooooowly along it.

            “Oh yes, I can see,” Ageha giggled as she let his hand slip free again.

            “ **MOM!!!** ” Kurumu yelled, and finally Ageha turned to face her daughter.

            “What **is** it, Kurumu?”

            “Your boobs are flopping all over the place! And they have been since you were flying down!” she yelled.

            Ageha looked down, and her expression changed to mild surprise. “Oh…would you look at that?” she said as blandly and casually as anyone had ever said anything. She pulled her dress up over her chest again. “Now, what were we saying?”

            “How about the rest of the town, _mom_?” Kurmur said, frowning hard.

            “Oh riiiiiiiight,” Ageha said, tapping a fingertip against her chin. “Were you what was calling me?”

            Nigeki nodded. “Yes, we had some magical help. Can you show us where they were taken? We want to save them before it’s too late.”

            She nodded and her face turned serious. “Follow me, I’ll take you there.”

            Her wings spread wide and Ageha flew back the way she came. Nigeki started the Crossbow up again and rode after her, Ruby and Mizore following close behind. But as soon as they were close Ageha looked down and smiled her teasing smile at Nigeki again. “Did you two do it yet? What was she like?”

            “MOM!!”

 

XXX  

 

            Straining his predator’s eyes, Nigeki could just see the tip of a concrete bunker over the top of the hill. Birds flew in circles around it, but he could see that the flap of their wings was just a little too stiff to be real.

            “We have to move fast,” he said to the others. “Ruby, can you do something about those birds up there? They must be how the people inside make sure nobody sneaks up on them.”

            “I bet I can,” she said with a sultry smile that made Nigeki blush, and the last one he’d felt from seeing Ageha’s breasts was still fresh.

            “Uh, great! Everyone!” Nigeki said, looking away as hard as he could. “Mizore, Kurumu, Ruby showed you how to use the navigation system on her bike so you can get back to school, right? Take your mom with you, she’ll be safe there for now.”

            At the same time, both of them crossed their arms and narrowed their eyes a little.

            “What?”

            “You expect us to just leave like that, huh?” Kurumu retorted. Mizore said nothing, but the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.

            Nigeki scowled back, his eyes turning an unsettling red. The girls’ faces had looks of shock and they took a step back. “It’s bad enough one person risks their life, even on something like this, okay?”

            “You think I’ve got no right to be here either?” Ageha frowned. “Those are my friends, my neighbors…there so few of us left anymore, I’m not just going to walk away when so many are in there!”

            Ruby cleared her throat and stepped forward to be in Ageha’s full view. “Kurono-san, that’s exactly why it’s too dangerous for you to be part of anything we try. You escaped from them already, if they see you they’ll kill right away you since they know you’re trouble.”

            Ageha rested her finger against her chin thoughtfully, flicking her shiny red fingernail up and down. Then she looked over shoulder at Kurumu and smiled. “You’ve found yourself a regular hero, didn’t you, honey?”

            Kurumu looked back at her mother then looked over at Nigeki and gave a small, cautious smile. “I kind of did, didn’t I?”

            “See you back at school. Now head out,” Nigeki said. Mizore, Ageha and Kurumu turned and walked away, back to where they’d parked the bikes. Kurumu looked over her shoulder one last time, but he was already facing the compound again.

           

XXX

 

            Ruby held up her wand, the gem mounted in it glowing lightly as she reading her spell. Then with a quick glance over her shoulder she lowered her wand and suddenly she said, “You really are committing to this kind of life very quickly, Hitoribo-san. It’s…admirable.”

            “Is this really the time to get into this, Ruby?”

            “You’re about to risk your life, and you’re sending your friends away to make sure they don’t risk theirs. Seems like a good time to think to think about what you’re doing to me,” she replied.

            “Well why are _you_ doing this? It wasn’t too long ago you got away from your teacher who wanted to invade that town with killer plants. You kind of seemed like you were glad for another shot at life,” Nigeki retorted.

            She looked at him totally deadpan. “I asked you first.”

            He threw up his hands and sighed. “Look, getting go to that school? It’s the first time I was ever let out of the house without somebody watching me every minute. I didn’t have a life worth losing before now.”

            Ruby looked away from him and started charging her wand again. “Maybe you’re not the only one.”

            Then suddenly a flock of crows took off from the trees. They flew up into the air above the bunker, buzzing through the spy birds and cawing and battering them furiously with beaks and talons. And Nigeki was already running bent over through the trees up toward the hill.

 

XXX

 

            By the time he stopped Nigeki was over the fence and in the shadow of the main doorway. He knew he probably didn’t have long. The spy birds couldn’t have seen him, but it probably wouldn’t be long before whoever was watching the monitors wondered where all those angry crows came from all of a sudden.

            He slid a silver card out of his pocket, showing a tower being set on fire by a lightning bolt. The numbers XVI ran across the top. Ruby had seemed awfully sure this would do the trick. Just how far ahead had she planned…?

            The main way in was a pair of heavy metal doors. He was sure if he tried to force them open whoever was inside would know right away. But next to it was a metal slot for some kind of ID card, and he put the card Ruby gave him inside. There was a flash of blue light and smoke dripped out of the slot. Then the door split down the middle as it slid open to let him into the building.

            Inside was a long silver hall like the last time he’d been inside an AGES base. There were security cameras up on the ceiling and his sharp eyes spotted the just barely visible laser tripwires blinking on and off along the floor. As he started sneaking down the hall making sure to avoid them Nigeki spotted a small seam in the side of the floor, a trigger for some kind of trap no doubt.

            This place was highly secure, and he was just inside the entrance. How tightly locked up were all of Kurumu’s people going to be?

            Then he heard familiar clanking footsteps and his blood went cold. Before he could be boxed in Nigeki jumped with all of his strength and braced himself against the walls of the ceiling with his arms and legs.

A second later, just like he’d been expecting, the three surviving Crasher robots marched down the hall below him. He almost expected them to be snapping their alligator-like jaws angrily at having lost track of their prey, but the Crashers just walked past in perfect lockstep. Nigeki waited until their steps had faded completely into the distance before he relaxed his aching fingers and dropped to the floor again.

He snuck around a corner and saw what he’d been hoping for: a security booth with a bored-looking guard sitting in a chair watching stacks of monitors. In one of the bottom ones Nigeki could make out a bunch of dirty, scared-looking people.

The young vampire’s hand closed around the doorknob, then twisted it suddenly and snapped the lock. The guard inside only had time to turn in surprise before Nigeki seemed to turn into a blur and sank the tips of his fangs into the guard’s neck.

“Don’t make any noise, and do exactly as I say, and nothing bad happens to you,” Nigeki whispered. “Does that sound good?”

The guard nodded.

Nigeki pointed at the screen showing the prisoners. “Where is that?”

The guard held up three fingers, then pointed down.

“I hope you’re right,” Nigeki said. Then he drank the guard’s blood, listening carefully and stopping the second the guard fainted and dragging him under the desk.

Then the vampire was sneaking off down the hall again, but didn’t know he was being followed.

            Any more than his pursuer knew they were being followed by a man in a dark coat and a grinnig white mask.

 

XXX

 

            Nigeki held his breath the entire elevator ride to the third floor down. He’d passed a few guards, a few technicians walking through the halls on their way to wherever they needed to be but managed to sneak by all of them. Any second he expected the doors to open and for some AGES goon to spot him and sound the alarm, but so far his luck had held.

            Honestly, cold tingles kept running down his neck, like something was stalking him and staying just out of sight. There was only one scent in the sterile lab complex, and Nigeki couldn’t place, but he knew something was…wrong about it. Maybe his hunting skills weren’t developed enough thanks to being stuck in the house all his life, but he realized he was extending his fangs in worry. Was there something else near him he couldn’t sense? Was that why nobody had found him yet?

            The elevator opened up into a hallway lined with heavy metal security doors. Standing guard outside one of the doors at the very end of the hall were the three Crasher robots. Red and Green walked up and down the hall, passing each other in the middle, reaching the end and turning around to restart their patrol. Facing down the hall was Yellow, electric arcs jumping between his sharp metal teeth.

            All three of them. This wasn’t going to be easy.

            “Henshin.”

            Yellow Crasher looked up, registering a sudden burst of heat and energy. A black and red blur sped down the hallway and threw a furious series of rapidfire punches at his body. The punches dug into his armor but Yellow Crasher reached out with his powerful jaws and clamped down on his attacker’s arm, stopping it cold.

            Bloodstone was in front of the Crasher, staring into his red photocell eyes as he tried to pull his arm free. For just a second Bloodstone almost wondered if the Crashers might actually be intimidated enough to back down. Then he could feel the heat of a fireball coming down the hall and ducked suddenly, pulling with all his strength with the arm trapped in Yellow Crasher’s mouth.

            The robot flipped forward and the fireball exploded against his back and his head hit the ground his grip on Bloodstone’s arm shook loose. The vampire rolled to his feet and sucked in a deep breath since he could already smell the burning sensation of a cloud of poison gas courtesy of Green Crasher filling the hallway. Red Crasher’s mouth was open and already another fireball was gathering inside.

            So Bloodstone ran over to Red and grabbed him with a move Felicia had used on Bloodstone himself in after-school fight practice. He grabbed Red’s metal shoulders and threw the killer robot just as the fireball shot out, right into Green’s own mouth where the poison gas was thickest. It ignited the gas and a terrific explosion spread down the hall. Bloodstone was blasted away, Red’s metal body shielding him from most of it but he still landed on his stomach hard enough to crack the floor.

            He stabbed his fingers into the wall and pulled himself up, then kicked Red down the hall. As Red went sliding away his electrified tentacles flailed and one dragged itself across the back of Bloodstone’s leg as he tried to stop the slide.

            Red ran into Green, then his tentacles shot straight out into the walls and then pulled him up again like Bloodstone had just done. The three Crashers faced him down from across the hall, but didn’t attack. Bloodstone wondered what they were thinking, then got his answer.

            Red suddenly rose into the air, his legs folding together to form one solid piece. Yellow on the other hand split in half down the middle and attached to the underside of Red, forming a pair of legs. Green folded together into a single rectangle of metal like Red, then attached to Red’s shoulder with his alligator-like mouth sticking out like a hand, the teeth glistening green with poison. They’d combined into a humanoid robot almost twelve feet high, but missing its left arm. That was obviously where Blue Crasher had been meant to join; at least Bloodstone managed to give himself a little advantage.

            The combined Crasher came running down the hall with giant steps that shook the whole floor. As its foot came down a third time Bloodstone was knocked off his feet from the force. He tucked his arms up against his chest and let himself go rolling across the floor to try to get just a few seconds to figure out a plan of attack.

            But he got to the wall and pushed himself off, into the air. He aimed his feet at the robot’s torso and hit the robot with a sound like a sonic boom. Crasher staggered back one step then reached out with his one arm and grabbed Bloodstone’s leg with his poisonous teeth. Bloodstone concentrated hard and the mass of his armor flowed down mostly to cover his legs as the teeth dug in, before the venom had a chance to get into his body again.

            Bloodstone knew he could only keep it up for a few seconds, so he punched at Crasher over and over, cutting gouges in the robot’s arm. Finally he must’ve hit something sensitive because it dropped him on the floor. Immediately the robot raised his giant foot and it crackled with electricity. Then he brought it down on top of Bloodstone and the vampire cried out in pain. He managed to get one boot against the bottom of Crasher’s foot and with all his strength shoved it off him.

            His body was still shaking from the electricity as he got up and linked his fists together then swung at Crasher’s knee. The metal dented but two of his electric tentacles flailed out and jabbed against Bloodstone. Again electricity shot through his body and Bloodstone fell to one knee, twitching horrifically.

            If he kept fighting this thing he was sure he’d be overwhelmed eventually. He needed some kind of advantage, but he was alone.

            Behind Crasher an air grating rattled then dropped on the floor. Then out of it fell Kurumu Kurono. She rolled forward in midair and landed on her feet. Bloodstone never would’ve fit through that shaft she’d just come through, and his skin tingled underneath his armor with the grace she’d shown with her quick little display of acrobatics.

            “I thought I told you to go back to school,” Bloodstone said, but he was sure she could tell he was glad she didn’t. Kurumu jumped and at the top of it her wings sprouted and she went flying over Crasher’s head. She turned sideways to avoid a blast of fire the robot spewed up at her, then landed behind Bloodstone, and he saw her crystal ball clutched in her hand.

            “I wouldn’t, and you knew I wouldn’t,” she whispered.

            “Kurumu, we could die if I can’t beat this thing.”

            She slid an arm around his body. “I don’t care. I didn’t have a life worth losing when I met you. I _need_ to help…or that won’t change.” Soft green light started seeping out between her fingers. “And I need to help the person who showed me how important it is.”

            He chuckled tiredly. “You heard me say that? I’d never ask you to risk your life, Kurumu,” Bloodstone said and put his gloved hand over the one on his shoulder as another fireball formed in Crasher’s mouth. “What kind of friend would I be?”

            “So let me decide it,” she replied.

            “ **Charm Heart. Synch!** ” cried out the voice of the Bloodstone itself.

Kurumu was smiling as her body flowed into the crystal ball in her hand and locked into the hollow on his chest armor over his heart. The light from the crystal passed through the system of veins on his armor, then there was a blinding burst of light as his Sacred Gear went active.

 

XXX

 

            And far away at Youkai Academy, Moka Akashiya sat alone in the Newspaper Club room, staring at a screen of text she knew she needed to edit but it all seemed to drip together in front of the lovely vampire’s eyes.

            “You’re thinking about what happened, even though you weren’t there,” said a voice in her head, just like her own except deeper, more confident. “About the little witch, and about that idiot out there who thinks he’s playing hero.”

            “What’s wrong with being a hero?” Moka replied quietly.

            The other, deeper version of her said, “There’s a difference between being a hero and taking stupid risks.”

            Moka got up and started walking the edge of the room in a circle. “You think stopping villains from coming back to life is a stupid risk?”

            “I think suddenly throwing yourself into a fight when you’ve been avoiding them your whole life is a stupid risk,” said the Inner Moka. “What’ll happen when he gets into a fight with someone who’s stronger than him?”

            Moka leaned against the wall with both hands and shut her eyes tight. “There’s no way to please you, is there? Before you thought he was weak, and now he’s trying to help other people and you say he’s stupid.”

            The Inner Moka sighed, then took a minute before she went on. “Something really big is coming, you have to have noticed that after your little trip in Hell. They think you and he are going to be in the middle of it…do you really believe he can handle it?”

            As her deeper self grilled her, Moka gasped, a weird pressure seeming to build at the sides of her head. “Don’t you mean _you_ and him? You’re the fighter, you’re the brave one, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice sounding more and more annoyed as she gasped and rubbed her temples. “Are you complaining because you’re afraid you and Nigeki might have to work together on something important? That you might learn what it’s like to have a friend?? That’d be awful, wouldn’t it…”

            Her other self didn’t answer, and Moka didn’t have to guess it had something to do with the “eye” gem in her Rosario suddenly turning a bright green as the pressure built up in her head.

            Then a second later it was gone and Moka sat panting on the floor of the club room.

            Her deeper self said nothing, but Moka was sure it had less to do with their argument and more to do with the feeling that something massive had just happened.

 

XXX

 

            The hallway dimmed as the power of the Joining Nexus finished its work.

            Bloodstone had been changed, as always. His body was thinner, looking quicker and lighter. Instead of heavy boots he had on silver athletic shoes, and his gauntlets had changed to slim silver guards on his forearms and over to the back of his hands, with curved claws on the fingers. Silver stripes ran up his arms and legs to his belt and the shoulders of his chestplate. There were little pairs of bat-like wings on each wrist, each ankle, and a full-sized pair were folded up on his back. An image of lips pursed for a kiss had appeared in the crystal ball over his heart.

            His mask had changed the most dramatically. Instead of a smooth skull-like face it was now a stark white-skinned bishonen’s face with blue gem-like eyes and spiky black hair sticking forward from the top.

Blooded looked back at the Crasher towering over him ready to attack, then sighed and brushed his fingers along his chin in a bored way. He tossed back his hair and a trail of sparkling dots seemed to form in the air behind it. “Let’s dance,” he said in a soft voice.

 

(Insert song: Death by Glamour)

 

Crasher suddenly lashed out with a kick, his foot crackling with bolts of electricity again. Bloodstone just stood and stared at the incoming attack. Then just before it connected he wasn’t there anymore.

Suddenly he was in midair instead of in front of the robot instead and jammed his long claws into Crasher’s shoulder, then dragged his hand down in a diagonal slash across his chest. The killer robot faced Bloodstone and another fireball started gathering there, but again Bloodstone was there one second and then gone the next. He reappeared sitting on Crasher’s shoulder then cut into the metal near the joint with his talons.

Angrily Crasher whipped his head around to face Bloodstone, staring down the young monster down with his blazing electric eyes as flames finished gathering inside his mouth. Then Bloodstone vaulted into the air, turning over and over three times before spreading his wings and hovering next to the ceiling out of reach.

A jet of rippling fire shot out of Crasher’s mouth straight at the fused monster, who went into a dive and folded up his wings, coming down at a steep angle with his shining fingertips held out to tear into Crasher’s body. The towering robot raised his arm and sprayed a cloud of poison at him, but Bloodstone shot right through it and sank his fingers into the plating on its arm, tearing it open.

He reached inside where a transparent tank of green gas was attached. Bloodstone smashed it open with one fist while he dragged his fingers along the inside armor and spraying sparks. A bunch of them landed inside the tank.

Already Bloodstone had vaulted off and was flipping acrobatically through the air as a fireball tore Crasher’s arm off and knocked the robot down. “ **Heart Breaker!** ” yelled the voice of the Bloodstone itself. Before Crasher had a chance to recover, Bloodstone slashed across the robot’s chest again, forming a ragged X in the armor. Then with a supernatural precision he stabbed his hand into Crasher’s chest.

As he pulled it out again he held a sparking cylinder in his hand, the power core of Crasher’s torso unit. He threw it into a corner and the top of Crasher slumped forward, his eyes going out. The legs kept kicking and scrambling, trying to get up, but with no eyes or brain only managed to push themselves down the hallway. The Crashers were finally beaten.

 

XXX

 

            A grinding came from the door, and the prisoners from Kurumu’s village jumped up. Two women ran to stand next to the door, ready to jump on whoever came in like they’d planned.

            “We’re here to—” the young man who walked in started to say, but never got to finish. The succubi spread their wings and tackled him with a shriek. A few more ran over and attacked too, then Kurumu ran in and started waving her arms and yelling.

            “Stop! STOP!!! What are you, crazy?! We came to help!” The others looked up but didn’t get off Nigeki yet.

            “…isn’t that the Kurono girl?” one elderly lady asked.

            “Yeah, it’s me,” Kurumu replied and sighed with relief as she looked back and forth as if counting heads. “My mom came and found us, and we came to help you get away.”

            There was silence for a second, then all the prisoners came running up to Kurumu like a wave. Somehow all of them seemed to manage to step on Nigeki at least once as they came without any of them noticing. His groan of protest went unheard.

            “Ageha actually stuck her neck out for someone and got it right,” someone said. “Who thought we’d ever see the day?”

            “Hey…” Kurumu tried to protest.

            “I know, when’s that old cow ever done anything when it wasn’t to get a date?”

            “Hey…”

            “Help…” Nigeki gasped, but nobody noticed.

            The elderly succubus managed to limp to the front of the group and gently pushed the others out of the way. “Thank you for your help, Kurono-san. I have no idea how you got past those machines guarding us, but if you can take us somewhere safer, we’d surely appreciate it.”

            “Uh, yeah,” Kurumu said, not really sure how to respond. “Um, look, go up the hallway to the elevators, okay?”

            And they did, spilling out of the cell and chattering as they did about where they’d go next, surprise at who their savior turned out to be, and a few at the back at how Kurumu was growing up to look just like her mother, especially in one area…

            Finally Nigeki up, groaning and with dirty footprints all over his face and clothes. His uniform was trashed and his hair had become a birds nest of tangles and mats. “Are you,” Kurumu started to say, then cupped her hands over her mouth to hide a giggle, “are you okay, honey?”

            “Yeah, I’ll live…what did you call me?”

            “NOTHING!...But, um, it was really _cool_ fighting with you. It felt like, um…I don’t really know any words for it,” Kurumu said, then blushed and looked away.

            “We kicked a lot of butt, huh?” Nigeki said and gave her a tired smile.

            She looked back at him over her shoulder. “Yeah, but…”

            “But…?”  
            “…nothing. We better go. They’re waiting for us,” Kurumu replied.

            Nigeki just shrugged. “Okay,” he said and walked out, his dirt-caked hair slopping around sticking straight up as he did. Kurumu giggled again as they left. Nigeki knitted his brow in confusion.

 

XXX

 

            The moon was a lovely bloody red, contrasting with the icy stars hanging in the black sky. Her latest tryst had ended too early to come anywhere close to satisfying her, it felt good to be home where she could see about finding a better one.

            “Madam?”

            She sighed then draped herself over a velvet backless couch. “Not now, Lucien. I’m too upset about things not working out with…my boyfriend.”

            “Oh? Which one was it, madam?”

            “You’re not paid to question me, Lucien,” she sighed again.

            “I would hardly call having my immortal soul bound to your service ‘payment,’ madam.”

            “I also don’t pay for your sense of humor,” she groaned and ignored the remark, pushing herself to the edge of the couch and letting her bright green hair drape off the back, framed by the pair of small bat-like wings on the sides of her brow.

            He coughed into his fist. “Nonetheless, madam, a…metal contraption is at the gates claiming to have a message for you.”

            She groaned again and waved dismissively in his direction. “Fine, fine! Anything to make you stop whining. Show it in.”

            “…madam?”

            “What is it _now_?” she moaned in annoyance.

            “May I suggest you put on something…proper, first?”

            She looked at him, eyes narrowed. “Of course not. If all these people are going to annoy me with a surprise visit over something pointless today, they’re going to see exactly how much I think of their stupid little problems.”

            “Of course, madam,” the butler coughed and left. A second later a shiny metal orb floated in through the window and a holographic screen formed in the air in front of it. On it was a man with a black beard, wearing a grey suit that cost something into six figures. “Greetings, Lady Aesland!” he said with a bright smile.

            “Save it,” she yawned. “You don’t really respect me enough to mean it when you say ‘Lady,’ so just say Morrigan.”

            His smile faded but he continued, “All right, Morrigan. My name is Robert Blacher, I represent the Japanese concerns of a group called AGES. I bring it to your attention that my people are holding a large group of your kind in our custody. We are prepared to release them unharmed if you are willing to cede the majority of the territory in Makai Realm under your control to us.”

            Morrigan got up, swinging her long supple legs off the couch and walking away from the drone carrying Blacher’s message, her diaphanous robe swaying and showing her generous curves underneath. She walked to a large glass hookah with blue fluid bubbling in its basin, took a spout and puffed on it, then blew a smoke ring that floated across the room, growing and growing until it touched the wall and broke apart. “No, you don’t.”

            “…I beg your pardon?”

            She picked up a large photo from the table next to her hookah and took another puff as she held it up, waiting for the drone to come over and see it closely to let Blacher know just how beneath him she was. The photo showed the outside of a concrete bunker in a skeletal forest, with a swarm of angry succubi fighting and overwhelming a group of human guards in blue and white uniforms.

            “You have nothing, human,” Morrigan said, blowing her smoke ring right into the drone’s display. “Your captives overwhelmed your forces and escaped. My power is staying where it belongs, with me. And if you waste my time again, I’ll use it to make you very sorry. Goodbye.” She suddenly flicked one of her wings out and sliced neatly through the drone. For just a second there was a man in a black coat and grinning white mask standing behind her.

            In Blacher’s office the picture went dead. He fumed, his fingernail’s ruining the finish on the desk he’d gone to a lot of trouble to have imported to Japan for his work there.

            Someone had just made a complete fool of him and ruined a major operation the organization had been banking on. He’d have hell to pay from his superiors for this.  
            Unless he found out who had done it, and made them pay.

           

XXX

 

            It had been hard seeing her neighbors go.

            The village was destroyed, and those crazy humans knew where it was, so it wouldn’t be safe to go back there anyway. As soon as they were a safe distance from the AGES base Kurumu’s people had scattered. Some were going to other monster villages that AGES hopefully didn’t know about, some had families hiding in the human world they would go stay with while they figured out what to do next.

            Her mother had been the one Kurumu had the most mixed feelings about. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I know someone who’ll take care of me for a while,” Ageha had smiled, probably talking about a new sugar daddy. “But I’ll be around soon, count on it! I want to hear _all_ about what you two are up to!”

            Maybe in a way that was encouraging, since it meant her mom would stop asking how her search for a boyfriend was going every time they talked.

            On the other hand it might end up even worse when her mom found out they weren’t actually a couple. Even with the incredible feeling Kurumu had the whole time they were fused, like she’d finally what she was looking for in life. Now that they were back to normal, there was a kind of cold void in the pit of her stomach she’d never felt before.

            It wouldn’t go away no matter what she thought about, and eventually Kurumu decided to go find Nigeki what he knew about the process.

            As she got to the floor where Nigeki lived she saw him standing outside the door to his room, clutching the doorframe hard enough to leave dents in the wood.

            “…is everything okay?” she asked from down the hall.

            “See for yourself,” he said darkly and stepped out of the way. Kurumu leaned in slowly as if afraid of what she might see.

            His furniture had been thrown all over the room. His desk had been smashed into a pile of plywood and his lamp was sticking out of a hole in the ceiling. His futon had been ripped open and scattered into every corner. The miniature fridge keeping his spare blood bags had been tipped over, the bags ripped open and splashed over his books, and someone had written a message on the wall in it: GET OUT RIDER.

            “I’m so sorry,” was her immediate reply.

            He leaned against the door frame and looked away, but he was scowling. “Why? You didn’t do this. I’m out there trying to make a difference, and this is what I get to come back to…”

            For a second Kurumu looked away too, not sure what to say. After all, whoever did this might not have had the courage to ransack Nigeki’s room if he’d been at school. And the reason he wasn’t was because he’d agreed to help Kurumu save her mother.

            But that maybe that was it.

            “You need people to know about the stuff you do.”

            “…what?” Nigeki asked, surprised.

            “You went to Hell to keep some bad guys from breaking out of there too, right? Nobody’ll hear about that, but they’ll hear about how you saved a whole succubus town. What you need to do is more really good stuff like that so people can hear about you and they’ll figure out you aren’t evil!”

            “What are you saying, Kurumu?”

            She grinned, her eyes dancing at the ideas already firing in her head. “I’m saying, what monsters really need is their own superhero.”

            “And you’re saying—”

            “And that means you need a good manager!”

            Suddenly Nigeki was feeling even less sure of himself than when he just saw his room destroyed.


End file.
